Thoughts
by sweetestheart
Summary: "The child in me has asked many times why he had to die so soon."
1. How I Learned to Love the Exposition

**Welcome to my story...again. This is a rewritten version of my other story, Something Wicked This Way Comes, which is still up if you want to read that. that. The first few chapters (about three or so) follow very similar but really goes off from there. I want to thank my annoying betas, Chrissy and Diana, for forcing me to continue writing.**

"Tell me a bedtime story, please," Tess said hiding in her cocoon of stuffed animals, "I want to stay awake a little longer. And Charlie wants a story. And-and it will help with the thing." She was still too wired from her day; a story was the only thing that was putting her to bed. Timmy sighed and folded his lean body into one of her chairs. He began to stroke the little girl's hair.

"Just one, Tessie, then you have to sleep. This isn't going to be like the time we were up until three o'clock in the morning reading the whole of _The Bad Beginning._ "

"I know, you still have to read me _The Reptile Room,_ you promised."

"I know I did, but you fell asleep in Art Class the next day. Remember? Head right into the paint. We were cleaning blue out of your hair for like six hours."

"That wasn't fun."

"Exactly, so one story," Timmy looked around the room for something to base his story off of before he got a better idea. "This story is about a boy named Mike, who lived alone with his parents. No siblings, not too many friends, and his parents were always away. One day, Mike wished more than anything to not be lonely anymore. And he got his wish. Venus and Kramer, they came to him to be his family. They took him to other worlds, and planets, and Mike had more friends than he thought he'd ever need. Until one day he met someone more important than all of it. A little baby named Maisie, and the second Mike saw her, nothing else was as important as caring for her. They had just lost their parents, and Mike was the only one left to care for her. So Mike had to make a very important decision."

Tessie was basically already asleep, but Timmy continued to stroke her hair, until she was fully unconscious. He got out of the over small chair, and planted a kiss on her forehead. Picking up one of her fallen stuffed animals and removing her glasses, Timmy left his little sister's room.

He crossed the house, passed his room, and passed the room where his grandfather, Pappy, slept soundly. Timmy slipped down the stairs back to the living room where his best friend, Trixie, was waiting. She was stretched out on the couch, her small frame somehow taking up most of the space. Timmy walked over to one side of the couch and pushed her legs off to make room. Undeterred, she put her feet onto Timmy's lap and kept munching on Timmy's chips.

"Get Tessie to sleep okay?" she asked, not looking up from her comic. Timmy looked over to her, passed her crossed knees, catching the curve of her neck before landing on her face. Trixie was trying not to get caught peeking at him, she wanted to say something. "I know she gets those dreams, and tomorrow being _tomorrow_ can't be easy."

"She doesn't even know what tomorrow _is_ , Trix. Can't mourn what you never knew," Timmy looked up at the ceiling, and sighed deeply. Seven years his parents had been gone. Bastards hadn't even had the sense to die and give Timmy closure. Just up and left one day. Like an eleven-year-old boy could care for a house, and a six-month baby all by himself. Timmy had no clue how he even survived the weeks it took his fifth grade teacher to find him. Pappy had come all the way from his home three states away to live with them. But still every year that day comes around and he feels like that angry eleven-year-old again.

"She hasn't started asking questions yet? She's almost seven."

"I don't think she wants to know, Trix. Tess just doesn't seem to care. She seems to think she grew from a flower to be my little sister." Trixie moved her feet off Timmy and sat up. Smoothing down the folds of her skirt, she looked sternly at Timmy.

"And how are you, Peaches?" Timmy looked angrily at her, then grabbed the remote and turned on the television. He tried to watch whatever was on, but he could feel her looking at him. He let out a deep sigh,

"How long have we been friends, Trixie?"

"Five years, doesn't answer my question."

"In those five years have I actually expressed a desire to talk about Barnaby and Rebecca? I know the answer, I haven't. I'd like to pretend that they didn't exist and that we were grown from flowers too."

"Timmy, it's okay that you're still angry. You got dealt a pretty shitty hand in life, it's only natural. If you need anything, I'm right here, Peaches." She started to stroke Timmy's hair, like he had done to Tess just minutes ago. That's all Timmy needs, and he curls down, laying his head on her lap. He didn't say another word, he just let her stroke his hair.

"I still have dreams about that day, you know," Timmy finally said, "I think about what would have happened if I hadn't come home right after school, and Tessie would've been left alone for hours." He starts stroking her bare knee, and takes another shaky breath, "Sometimes I imagine what would've happened if I had left school early that day, if I would have been able to catch them before they left or changed their mind about leaving. If they'd still be here. Tessie doesn't even know what her family looks like,"

"Of course she does!" Trixie said, her hand stopping. She fingered a small chunk of Timmy's hair, "Her family is you and Pappy. You're her whole world, and don't forget it." The stroking resumed and Timmy could feel himself starting to drift.

In his last few moments, he hears himself say, "Something just feels different this year." And then the darkness surrounded him.

Timmy walked through a long, narrow hallway surrounded by nothing. He could only see a few feet ahead of himself, not left or right or behind. He could only go forward. Eventually the hallway ended at a mirror. Tall and strong, the mirror looked extremely old and seemed to be bolted to the wall. But it was not Timmy in the reflection. At least not Timmy as he should be. The tall, lean eighteen-year-old was replaced by a ten-year-old boy in the mirror. Timmy at ten years old, same pink cap, buck teeth and everything. It was like seeing a ghost.

Behind Timmy were three dots: one green, one pink and one purple. They were getting closer to the glass, as if they were going to burst from it. But the closer they came into focus, the more it hurt Timmy to look at them and the more he couldn't focus his eyes on them. Pain searing through his head, he looked down at his younger self. The child held one finger to his lips, then pressed his hand to the glass. Timmy reached for it, and just when their fingers met, the glass shattered. Three colored orbs blurred past, but the younger Timmy was nowhere. A dark doorway lay where the mirror once stood.

In the distance Timmy heard it speak, "Why am I awake? Awake, awake. I'm awake!" Then, so quietly Timmy could barely hear it, "The stars are so pretty." Then a laugh could be heard. It's unlikely Timmy would forget something as terrible as that laugh.

Timmy shot up with a shout, and looked around. He was back in the living room, and it was morning. He reached over to grab his phone and checked the time. Six AM. He had been asleep for six hours, yet it felt as if he had gone to bed seconds ago. He looked around, surprised that Trixie seemed to have left in the night; he figured she'd just crash in the guest room after everything.

Suddenly came the soft patter of his little sister's feet on the stairs. He could hear Tess softly singing. She got to the living room and stopped short when she saw he was awake, "What's the word, hummingbird?"

"Morning Tessie." He said with a yawn, ""What are you doing awake so early? It's, like, six in the morning."

The brunette looked down at her small socked feet and sighed, "I had the dream again and Charlie didn't think we should stay in the bedroom."

Timmy didn't need any more than that to pull Tess back into a hug. He was familiar with her nightmares and her imaginary friend, and knew it was really all he could do for her. After about a minute, he pulled away, and asked her, "Pancakes?"

Now that thought made the child perk up nice and quick, "Pana-cakes!" she cheered, pulling her brother by the hand to try to get him to move faster, "Come on big brother, pana-cakes!"

Timmy laughed at his excitable little sister, "Come on, Tessie, go wake up Pappy, gently. I'll get started on them." With that she took off hurrying back up the stairs. He picked up his pink sweatshirt from the coffee table, and tossed it on over his pajamas, before heading out to the kitchen himself.

Today was the day, seven years his parents had been gone. _Maybe this year they'll send a postcard from wherever they ended up,_ Timmy thought bitterly. He imagined his parents laying out on some beach without a care in the world, and not a thought spent on the children they had left behind. The thought filled him with anger he had to push down, focusing on starting the pancakes. They had Pappy now, and Pappy was amazing. Timmy found he loved living with Tess and him more than he had ever loved being with his parents.

But Pappy would be hard to wake up from time to time, so Timmy took out the ingredients for pancakes, and got to work while he waited for them. Suddenly he got the feeling he was being watched. The hairs on the back of his neck standing up and the compulsive need to turn around and look for someone. Timmy got this feeling a lot, but like now, there was never anyone there. He sighed, and began to make the pancakes. Reaching for the milk, he poured it into the mixture only for red liquid to come out instead.

The boy screamed at the top of his lungs, and tossed the offensive carton to the side. Blood spilled out all over the counter and floor. Timmy back peddled away as quickly as possible, tripping over one of the kitchen chairs and falling to the floor. Pappy ran into the room, holding his cane as a weapon, with Tessie rounding behind him holding a stuffed elephant and a fire poker.

Timmy stared at them for a moment, mouth gaping like a fish, when he finally gasped out, "Blood."

"Where?" Pappy asked, "Are you hurt?" He dropped his cane and started checking his grandson for some form of injury. Tessie had lowered the fire poker, and pulled her stuffed elephant to her ear. Timmy started to motion towards the area, but Pappy said "There's no blood on you. Where is it?"

"Charlie says the blood's over there, Pappy." Tessie said softly, still looking off to the distance. Pappy turned his head in Tess' direction, then towards the spilled blood. Except, it wasn't there anymore.

"Timmy, you spilt the milk," Pappy said concerned. He walked over to the counter, "Tess go grab a towel, I can't get down that low anymore." Tessie lingered for a minute longer, before sharply turning and leaving the room. Pappy looked over to Timmy, obviously wanting to talk. Timmy still sat on the floor, still gaping like an idiot. Pappy sighed, and began, "Sport, if you aren't feeling up for heading off to school, well you and Tess are free to play hooky. I'll even skip out on heading to Shady Pines for Bridge, we can see a movie. I hear they're having a Star Wars marathon down at Bohmer Plaza. You always loved those movies. Just like your Great-Aunt Gertrude, she stood in lines around the block on opening nights for every movie. Dressed as Princess Leia. Even at sixty years old. And…"

"You don't have to Pappy. I'm fine. Just a little tired." It was then that Tess came back in with arms full of fresh towels and her fire poker. Suddenly Timmy didn't feel like being around his overly loving family at the moment. "I'm heading off to school early today, got to see a teacher. Then I have work after school, so I wanted to know if you could drop Tess off at ballet on your way to the center."

Pappy still looked like he wanted to talk about it, but instead said, "Of course, I'll take Tess. The young girl who teaches her class is always so sweet to me, offering me treats." Timmy laughed, and moved to get plates for the pancakes. Maybe he could spend a _few_ more minutes. He rose from his seat, about to make an excuse to leave when his grandfather asked him to stay and help him clean up the kitchen. Timmy knew that it wasn't a request though. He was talking to trying to fill up the dishwasher as fast as possible when he heard his grandpa clear his throat.

"Timmy, I know it must be hard for you, today of all days. And I know I don't always make it easier. I know how hard it must have been to grow up without your parents, wherever they've gone, and me and Tess here," The speech was awkward and practiced, but Timmy knew Pappy meant every word, "You've grown up good without them. Probably better than you would have if they had stuck around. You're a great kid...man now. Eighteen, a job, decent in school, a phenomenal big brother to Theresa, and—and as a grandson to me. And..."

"Pappy," Timmy cut him off, "I have to get ready for school."

Pappy smiled lightly, "What I'm trying to say Timmy, is that I'm really proud of you." And with that he walked out of the room, probably off to watch the reruns of The Twilight Zone or Pyramid, or any of the other old shows he loved so dearly.

Timmy walked up to his room and checked his phone. He had convinced his grandpa he was fine today, now all he had to do is convince Trixie. She was going to be a slightly harder sell than Pappy. He wouldn't be able to just worm his way out of questions.

 _At least I could try to push it back for a bit,_ Timmy thought. Telling her he'll talk to her at school. She won't be totally happy with that, and she can probably tell he was trying to push back the conversation, but Trixie wouldn't stress it. With that out of the way, Timmy hopped and took a quick shower, and got ready for school.

An hour later, he was prepped and off for school. Timmy threw on a cap, and climbed into his car, and off he was. The bus would be picking up Tessie in a bit, and then Pappy was off to the senior center to hang out with his old buddies. Everything was set. All good. No it wasn't.

Timmy really didn't need to be at school early, and in truth, probably still wouldn't be on time to class. But that was less do to not being in school, and more of getting distracted. _Either way I'm here,_ Timmy thought as he pulled into the parking lot.

He scanned the school grounds, looking the same as they did every day of the year. He passed over the group of potheads who hung out mostly on the school's lawn and only came to class to occasionally amuse the other students or sleep. Timmy's former bully, Francis, and Chester, once one of his best friends, were both prominent members of that group. Timmy could even see Chester now, laughing and Timmy averted his eyes quickly, moving on. His eyes moved passed the table of tech heads AJ now resided. Passed the jocks (decent enough people when they weren't being douche nuggets), and the nerds (lovely people when they weren't bitch nuts). The geeks (read: creeps) and the banks geeks (different than regular geeks as they were more popular and usually high). Drama kids, where his former friend Sanjay chose to hang out (would it be cliché to call them dramatic?).

Then there was the Hipsters, who did annoy him from time to time. The constant party animals, who always annoyed him. There were the ultra-recyclo-vegetarian environmentalists, who constantly pissed Timmy off. The protesters, protesting something new every week; this week they were protesting the ultra-recyclo-vegetarian environmentalists, which Timmy understood. The gangsters, the wannabe gangsters, the freaks, the class clowns, the future business leaders, the preps, the slackers, and everything in between. Anyone else was just normal, or a loner. Timmy missed the days when everyone was normal, and they weren't all split up.

He headed over to the benches where his friends hung out. Being best friends with Trixie had its perks and Timmy was now one of the beautiful elite, whether he wanted to be or not. There were Tad and Chad who were off to the side, staring off into the distance. They were pretending to be too cool to even talk to each other, like they could communicate with eyebrow raises and nose touches alone. Missy was sitting on the bench, reading from some book. Veronica had taken a break from hanging out with the cheerleaders to skulk on the edge of the group, obviously looking for Trixie. _Where is she anyway?_ Timmy thought, _she's usually here by now._ Timmy glanced at the others, though they mostly ignored him in favor of looking cool and detached. Nonetheless, Trixie strolled up to the group minutes later.

She didn't look like she had spent most of the night sitting on an old couch with him. She was dressed in a loose purple tank, a black jacket, and a striped skirt. Timmy tried his damnedest to avoid looking at her face, but eventually his eyes drew him there. Her face looked calm enough, but it was easy for Timmy to spot the compassion in her eyes. She entered the group, and joined Timmy and the others looking calm and collected. Trixie's eyes fell to her phone to scan Twitter, and Timmy returned to looking around the courtyard. But her fingers loosely linked with Timmy's in her own calming way.

The bell sounded soon enough, and the gang dispersed. Timmy let go of Trixie's fingers, and she went off to Anthro, promising to meet up with Timmy after class. He hung back a few minutes. He had Statistics first period, and Moon didn't give a flying Frisbee what time you got into class. When he finally started moving, he was surprised to find that Missy was walking next to him.

Missy was a short, yet somehow remarkably leggy, red haired girl who had moved to Dimmsdale from Ireland near the end of Timmy's fifth grade year. Mere weeks before his parents fled town. She had been Timmy's first real girlfriend, back when they were fourteen until about a year and a half ago. One day they were together, the next they weren't. It was only when they were just friends again but did Timmy realize he prefered it that way. But more important, she knew what today was.

"So, Timmy?" Her slightly Irish accented voice betraying her concern. But she wasn't Trixie and Timmy wasn't as keen to spill his guts to his ex-girlfriend.

"Sorry, Miss. Have to run to my locker, Chad texted me that Moon is pulling an open book pop quiz and I need to get my book. Talk later." Obviously aware of his own bail, Timmy smiled half-heartedly at her and hurried off. He could hear her sigh, and follow him inside. They were already two of the last people filing inside the building, and he adjusted his cap as he took the long way she was bound not to go.

Timmy showed up in Stats fifteen minutes late, which Elmer in the front row was pleased to point out that he had missed 30% percent of the class. Timmy, like the rest of the class, chose to ignore Elmer, and took his usual seat by the windows, Tad and Chad already waiting for him. They acknowledged his appearance with a simultaneous nod of their heads, and returned to talking about fencing or boating or whatever activity they were into this week. And Timmy was left back in his own thoughts. At first he tried to text Trixie for entertainment, but he got a quick reply that she had a test in a class that actually _cared_ about tests and couldn't talk for the moment, so instead Timmy flipped into the back of his notebook to the area where he would draw.

Not many people knew this about Timmy, but he was a fantastic artist. Just something he picked up over the years, doodling into the corners of his notebooks, and tests he didn't know the answers to. He had a few sketchbooks at home full of pictures he had drawn, of trees, buildings, the park, and of Tess and Pappy. He even had a sketch of Trixie, but not even she knew that one existed. There were also pictures that also seemed blurred, but he had to draw out of his head or they would physically hurt him. Just smudges of pink and green, and sometimes purple, waiting to become real drawings.

Before Timmy knew it, first period was over. Then Astronomy class, second period. Then his third period gym. All finished before he even noticed. His mind really was somewhere else today, more so than it ever was, even on this anniversary. It was fourth period now; Timmy would have Shakespeare with Bickles. Timmy decided he'd rather not attend another class now, and instead texted Trixie to not expect him in their shared class today, that he was heading to the trees instead.

He left the school from the lunchroom doors, opened to let the students in the first lunch outside, then crossed over from the tables, to the benches, then the small grouping of trees. It was easy, because the staff knew the kids went there, and if they came back and didn't take _too_ long, they didn't really care. He found a decent quiet area, where there were no freshmen trying to feel each other up, and leaned against the tree. _Time for an old bad habit_ , Timmy thought, reaching into his book bag. At the bottom of the bag, he found his pack of cigarette, still mostly full. Timmy didn't smoke them often; Trixie didn't like the smell. But he was stressed and decided he really needed one. He lights one up, and turned on his music and tried to calm down.

Timmy sat for a few minutes, just resting his eyes, listening to music and occasionally taking a drag, when a distinctively _strange_ sound came. Not the sound of a freshman getting his first BJ, or a sophomore unable to find her bra in the bushes, but the sound of someone _in_ a tree. Timmy looked up and was surprised, at admittingly more than a little terrified to find someone looking at him. He sprung to his feet, earphones tangling, and the remains of his cigarette falling from his mouth to the ground.

She dropped herself down from the tree with a soft thud, and Timmy got a good look at her. She was short, almost as short as Trixie, with pale skin, bright pale blue eyes, and almost white blonde hair. She wore a yellow shirt, white skirt and a large headband, and was looking at him with the oddest expression. Then she smiled, "Timmy Turner."

Timmy was dumbfounded to say the least, "Do I know you?" The girl's smile dropped a fraction, before picking right back up.

"You did, I'm Chloe Chloe Carmichael. You really shouldn't smoke those." She stuck out her hand for Timmy to shake, and Timmy was surprised by the mark on her wrist. It looked like a tattoo, but was inkless. Like a brand, or a cut that had been deliberately sliced that way. Its design almost looked like a flower, but at the same time it didn't. And it seemed to shine gold and silver in the dim light. It was unlike anything Timmy had seen before. And looking at it caused a sharp pain in his head that threatened to consume him. He was so struck by it that he almost didn't take the girl's hand. But regaining composure momentarily, he took the girl's hand.

"Timmy...Turner," he managed to get out. The girl withdrew her hand, and pulled her hands behind her back to hide her mark. Timmy's head instantly started to clear up.

"I know," she said lightly, "We've been neighbors for years." Timmy thought for a moment, trying to recount his neighbors when he remembered.

"Yeah, the Carmichaels live across the street. Are you their niece or cousin or something? They didn't mention having a daughter my age." Chloe's smile dropped completely, and it didn't come back.

"Yeah, they care more about super helpless animals than only occasionally helpless daughters," she looked at him, "but you know something about that don't you?" Timmy stared at her for a moment in complete were only a handful of people outside his immediate family knew what had happened to his could some girl from across the street knew, was he not closing his blinds or something?

"I have no clue what you're talking about," he replied stood up and towered over the girl. He found his height would usually intimidate people, but this five foot nothing girl was not in the least bit worried.

"Oh, you don't remember do you?" Chloe said with a laugh, "I thought it was an act to keep them back, but you really don't remember a thing." Timmy got worried as her laugh became more and more hysterical, "We are so screwed."

"What the hell are you even saying?!" Timmy had had enough of this girl. He picked up his bag and his coat and tried to move passed the girl, who had stopped laughing. She was looking more serious now.

"You're going to have to remember soon, because we're going to need you," she poked a finger into his chest, "So hurry up, and break down that wall." Timmy's head was starting to hurt again, and he took off past her.

"Listen, whatever you're smoking I don't want any." And Timmy was off. Head pounding, he hurried through the woods, blindly trying to make his way back to the school. He was stopped only when he tripped over the jacket Chad had uncharacteristically left carelessly on the forest floor. He and Tad were making out instead of going to gym again. They looked over at him, angry until the realized it was Timmy.

"Turner," they said in unison, not even bothering to looked back, half expecting to find the girl chasing him and was relieved to find no one. Timmy straightened his shirt, and tried to maintain the cool.

"If a blonde chick passes by asking for me, you've-"

"Never heard of Timmy Turner in our lives. No problem." Tad finished.

"Have to beat the guys and girls away with a stick," Chad added.

"Exactly. Now I'll see you guys at lunch. Maybe. Pick up that jacket before it gets dirty and you have to explain it to your dry cleaner again," and Timmy hurried off. As he went, a picture is his head grew, at first just a blurry image in the back of his mind. It was like someone was slowly pressing the focus on a camera. It was him, and as it got clearer he saw more people, sitting around in his old tree house. But just as the image got clear enough to see, it disappeared from his mind.

Instead it was replaced with a horrific vision of a rainbow bridge burning. The bridge sported a crack across it, separating it into two. One side fell off the map, all the way down farther than he could see. But he could smell the fire and hear the screams coming from that side. The other side, however, might have been worse. It was calm; deathly calm. Nothing but black smoke and clouds trailing off, and not a sound. As if there should be a sound yet none was heard, you couldn't even hear the screams. It was terrifying.

And just like that Timmy snapped out of his day dream and was back at school. Sitting on a bench near the gym, staring down at his hands like nothing was wrong. Timmy had no clue how he had made it across the entire school without stopping or someone stopping him. For a moment longer he just stared down at his hands, like he expected them to suddenly be someone else's, and in his daze he didn't bother to notice someone had sat down next to them until she spoke.

"You okay there, Timmy?" She said, "You look like a someone's been shoving oranges up your ass." Timmy looked down at her feet first, and trailed up. Black ankle boots, knee socks, and a pleated mini skirt told him who it was instantly. Tootie Olsen was sitting next to him looking at him like she was worried he might pass out or vomit on her shoes or both. And Timmy wasn't sure he wasn't going to, nor was he really sure where exactly this feeling was coming from.

"That is an oddly specific description. I just got a little light headed for a second," Timmy obviously wasn't convincing her though. And that was a mark against him, because Tootie usually just went with anything. Tootie had once been the annoying little sister to his bossy babysitter, now she was just some pretty, albeit strange, girl who ran her sister's Creampuff troop. Tootie had calmed with time, and presumably friends, hobbies and possibly medication. Timmy and she were on okay terms, but not the best of friends, and if he wasn't fooling her he wouldn't be fooling anyone. "I haven't been feeling very well lately."

"Lot of stuff on your mind?" Tootie asked, mimicking Timmy's current position. Hunched over, elbows on knees, hands clasped, and her dyed blue hair covered her face, "Is it Theresa?"

"No, Tess is fine. She's looking forward to the trip to Build-A-Bear next week."

"You're trying to get me to change the topic, aren't you?" Timmy watched her fiddle with the sleeves of her sweater, waiting.

"Maybe," Timmy replied cheekily. Tootie looked up for a second and Timmy saw for once she wasn't smiling and she looked almost angry, her eyes seemed to glow as disturbingly pink as her sister's seemed. But as quick as it showed, it disappeared and Tootie is her little smiling self again.

"Fine, don't talk," Tootie fiddled with the buttons on her cardigan and looked at him, "Tell Tess to be ready for ballet, the twins have been asking about her." The twins were Vicky's kids. About three years old, one had Vicky's red hair and the other Tootie's dark eyes, and if they had a father nothing of his. Small, dead eyed little Shining twins. There was Dres, the boy, and Nim, the girl. Dres had short hair, and Nim was deaf. There was little other difference. But Tessie liked them, so Timmy abides.

"Yeah, four o'clock I haven't forgotten again," he joked, breaking her gaze, "I'll see you there." But Tootie was already gone, no sign of her, probably haven't turned towards the caf and abandoned him to his numbness. More time passed, and the bell sounded signifying the end of class, and almost instantly afterwards his phone buzzed with a text notification. Timmy knew it was going to be Trixie looking for him, he wasn't quite ready to meet up with her. Luck for him he could avoid her for the rest of the school day. He did however have English with Mr. Crocker.

He had come up to the high school a year before Timmy had, taking over for the now retired teacher, Birdwell. He had calmed down a bit from how Timmy remembered he was in fifth grade. Medication, probably. Sure he wasn't having random outbursts, or flunking kids at random, but he was still unsettling about him. He had gotten so quiet.

Crocker had to still be suspicious, and paranoid and fairly crazy. He did his best to get through the class with his head down. And it worked for the most part, Crocker didn't bother him, he preferred to torment the freshman now.

Either way, Crocker wouldn't bother him today. He had been the one who, six years ago, discovered that he was living alone with his six-month old sister. He had come to his house for one reason or another, probably to see why he had been absent for two weeks, despite having perfect attendance before. Timmy remembered how he had been a little nicer to him that final week of fifth grade. Stayed with him that night, fixing up everything for when his Pappy would come tomorrow. Then just being decent to him until fifth grade ended.

It stopped after that. Crocker simply ignored Timmy through his sixth grade year, then he was away from Crocker in middle school. Then high school, their paths really hadn't crossed until this year. And even this year, Crocker didn't pay him much mind beyond a few suspicious glares. Timmy hated those.

The class was quick and even boring, just a new chapter in Animal Farm. It was over before he knew it and tried to leave the class quickly when Crocker called him back. He stood in front of him, and Timmy realized how unintimidating he was now. Just a hunched, pale man, one breakdown away from the nuthouse. Timmy older, taller, and stronger than him now. He shouldn't be afraid of Crocker. He really shouldn't.

"Turner," Crocker started to say, trying to fend compassion. Timmy really didn't have time for him today. He had a headache, and he wanted to go to work and get the day over with. But Crocker was still talking, "Now, I know we haven't been on what you can call the best terms," he said in short fragments, obviously uncomfortable," But I know this day must be hard for you and,"

"It's fine, Mr. Crocker. It doesn't bother me anymore, "Timmy said quickly wishing this conversation over now, "Just rough it out and wait for the end of the day," there was an awkward pause, then Timmy excused himself saying that he had to get to his next class.

"Right now, go," Crocker said bluntly. Timmy turned and started to walk back out of the class when Crocker called to him, "It's coming you know, Turner." The dark laugh crept back into the corner of his mind.

"Um. What's coming, Mr. Crocker?" he asked, as calmly as possible.

"The end of the day, Turner. There's only one period left," he gave Timmy a confused, peculiar look and said, "The years have not made you smarter, boy." Then let Timmy leave.

Timmy didn't really have anywhere to go, since he had last period free. He decided to sign out early and head to work. It was either that or risk another running into Trixie or someone else trying to get him to talk. He stopped at his locker, to put his book for English into it, and grabbed his apron and he was off. Or at least he would have been if he didn't start to hear something like a melody, a sad song calling to him. He pulled his hat from his back pocket, and secured it on his head before following the sound.

But as soon as he turned the corner he smashed right into someone. "Shit!" Timmy swore, "Are you okay?" She was punk from her choice of clothes, and something about her was very familiar.

"I'm fine," she said brushing off her red leather jacket, "It's my fault. I wasn't looking where I was going." Then Timmy knew where he had seen her before; she was Chester's girlfriend, name was... something Timmy couldn't remember.

"No, it's my fault," Timmy assured, not wanting to upset a girl who he figured got upset easy, "I was just looking for something. Um, music. Have you heard it?"

His question must have confused her because she stopped putting stuff back in her back and looked at him almost worried. Her face shifted to overall emotion and she said, "Yeah. Bickles is trying out a new music hobby. He likes to play it loudly when the students start to leave. Gets them out quicker or something." And with that she left.

Realizing how stupid he had been, Timmy double timed it out of the school and headed off to work. He never did remember her name.

 **See, fairly similar to the original chapter. The next one will be up next Wednesday, like this was going to be before I took a too long nap and Chrissy forgot to wake me. If anyone has the source to the quote in my summary pass it on so I can credit them. Also tell me what this is suppose to even go under because crossovers only allow two choices, which this has way more than. Thank you and good night.**


	2. Old Friends

**I feel into a hole called TV Tropes and missed my deadline again. I'm going to blame Chrissy for not reminding me.**

 **Standard Disclaimer.**

* * *

Timmy began working at thirteen years old, two days after he and his sister had been brought to his grandpa from Child Services. At first it was moving boxes through storage and washing dishes, real under the table stuff. The work came from a diner, just around the corner from his house, called Jughead's. He had started on a week by week basis, and eventually over time he ended up as a waiter in the place.

He parked his car, and walked through the back entrance and he said hello to the cooks, before greeting Rina, an older Asian woman and the manager of Jughead's. She scolded him for wearing his hat into the building, but smiled and sent him to work. A few hours passed quickly, alternating between waiting and cleaning out tables when there were customers, and watching soap operas with Rina, when the restaurant was dead. His shift ended at eight, so he still had an hour left to burn. That's when Timmy saw a customer in one of the back booths, face buried in a menu. "I got him," he called to Jake, the other waiter, and took off for the table.

It was a longer walk than usual, since he was all the way on the other side of the restaurant, when he came in, but a few moments later Timmy was standing in front of him. "Hello, welcome to Jughead's. My name is Timmy, how can help you?" he said as per the usual introduction.

"That is one shitty opening, Turner. You got to really sell it or you're not getting a good tip," he said dropping the menu. Jimmy Neutron. Timmy wondered how he didn't recognize him from his fudge-y hair. He was older now too, a little older than Timmy probably. Still had the arrogant look to his face, but there was a hint of exhaust under it like he had gone too long without sleep.

"What are you doing here?" Timmy said, pulling his hat and the order pad out of his back pocket and dropping them on the table before calling to the rest of the staff that he was going on a break.

"That's no way to talk to a friend you haven't seen in years. I was hoping for tears and hugs. Admittedly though, bored and mildly disdainful was actually on the list. It was always kind of your thing," Jimmy said ignoring the comment.

"Yeah, I get that," he replied like it was the most obvious thing in the world, then restated his question from before.

Jimmy smirked back and replied, "A guy just can't visit an old friend? Don't you remember the adventures we had?" But thinking about it Timmy really didn't remember the adventures he had in Retroville. He knew he had them, and he remembered the people, but the adventures were a messy blur. Like a story missing chunks of it, or a picture that someone had smudged. But he wasn't gonna let Jimmy know that.

"Sure. Most can," Timmy said, sliding into the seat across from him, "But not you. You always came for a reason. So what's the matter?" Jimmy looked down at his hands, unlocking his fingers. He pushed back his glasses with one, and reached into the bag next to him with the other.

"You told me a story once of a time you fought a thing" What? "And you told me how it swallowed the planets in your dimension until-"

"What the fuck are you talking about, Fudgehead? Have you been sniffing your own experiments or something?" Timmy was done with this day and all these strange things that kept happening. The headache he had just managed to drug into submission was blooming again with more severity than ever. An ever growing darkness that was starting to smother his thoughts. But Neutron was still talking and it was time Timmy got some answers.

"- and everyone's memories got erased in the end. You told me this story a thousand times, don't pretend you can't remember because you've gone off to do whatever else. I've done better, but even I got back to the classic stories. But I'm getting off topic. I think-"

"I think you should start speaking like a normal person before I shove my pad down your throat. Now I'm going to ask again. What in transdimensional hell are you talking about? You're not from some other goddamn dimension, you're from Texas. Now how many drugs are you off, cause I've got a friend who can get you all of them."

"I'm not off my meds, or on any of that matter. But you might be, why are you looking at me like I'm talking backwards in Russian."

"You might as well be, Neutron. Because as I've said a few times now, as you keep ignoring, I have no idea what you're saying." Timmy's head was really killing him now, and he was more than done with whatever Jimmy was trying to pull out of his ass, "So speak clearly, before I throw you out by the sloppy pudding cup you call a hairstyle."

Jimmy recoiled a bit, then looked at Timmy almost nervously, "Did you have some sort of nervous breakdown or repress your childhood, Turner? Because you use supposed to be my go to on magic."

"You've flipped your shit. Magic doesn't exist," Timmy had had enough of this for one day and started to leave the table when Jimmy slapped a picture down in front of him. It was him, from years ago. He had to be about ten or eleven, next to him was a couple. A man with green eyes and hair, and a woman with curly pink hair and eyes. There was a baby too. Small and purple and floating in the air. Everyone seemed happy, with huge smiles on their faces. Timmy couldn't remember being that happy. It was like a scene out of a dream, and his eyes burned just looking at it.

His entire head was on fire. His eyes and throat burned. His hands shook as he reached for the picture. Something in the back of his mind was telling him not to touch it, to close his eyes and leave and forget he ever saw it. But he had seen it. His fingers brushed the edge of the picture. And it's like the whole world had gone silent for that one moment. Until Timmy blinked, and the picture changed.

Timmy was still there, smile still frozen in place, but the florescent people had disappeared. The people were now of his mother and father. In Timmy's arms was a newborn Tess, swaddled in a blanket. He knew this picture. It was the one he kept in his car, but his had his parents cut out. It was the only copy that existed.

He shoved the offensive picture away, and tried to stand up. The rest of room turned with him, and Timmy found himself stumbling into the next table. He felt Jimmy try to help him, and could almost hear his voice from a distance, but he wasn't processing it. Timmy stumbled through the dining area and into the kitchen. Luckily Rina and the others had gravitated back to the small television in the corner and hadn't noticed his sloppy approach. He slowly walked over to the sink trying to clear his head and he turned on the tap.

Timmy splashed his face with water, and started to calm down. With his breath evening out, and his vision slowly coming back to normal, he finally looked back at Jimmy. The boy was standing at the entrance to the back, obviously unsure of what to do. He looked upset and fidgeted with his hands like a lost child. Timmy realized Jimmy was waiting for him to say something. "What-what was that?" he finally managed to choke out.

"I take it you've forgotten about Cosmo, and Wanda again," Jimmy said softly, "I'm sorry for showing you their picture, I had a feeling it was going to make you freak out I just didn't think it would be that bad. And I'm sorry for that crack I made about memory loss and repression, you always said you'd never forget it."

"Forget what, Jimmy?" Timmy said calmly, looking the taller boy in the eye. The pounding in his head was starting to come back, but Timmy barely noticed it. He wanted his answers.

"All the adventures, all the magic, everything. Tell me what do you remember about your childhood? Say around nine or ten years old?" Jimmy was getting more and more curious.

"Nothing, it's mostly a blur. Normal kid stuff I guess. Why? Does it have something to do with that picture? Why did it change when I touched it?" Timmy had a million more questions, but Rina came out before he could continue.

"May I ask who your friend is, Timmy?" She said, "You know the back is for employees, and the occasional squatter only. And he doesn't look like the Admiral. Why is he back here?"

"Sorry, Rina. I actually wasn't feeling very well. Jimmy was just seeing if I needed a ride home, but I had to make sure it was cool." She walked over to him, making him feel like a child about to get caught in a lie. She beckoned him to get down to her level, and she placed a hand on his forehead.

"You feel clammy, and bloodless. Have you seen a ghost, Timmy?" Had I? Timmy thought. Rina patted his cheek and said, "Go home, sweetheart. We need you better for the party next Saturday. Go, go." Timmy started walking, only to be stopped by Jimmy. Apparently he had starting walking towards the wall and he hadn't noticed. Jimmy took his arm, and Timmy thought he heard him talking to Rina, then they were moving again.

Jimmy pulled him out the back exit, and towards the parking lot. Timmy started walking towards his car, more out of muscle memory than anything. He tried getting in the driver's seat, but was stopped by Jimmy. "I actually have a better idea." Timmy held out his keys, thinking Jimmy wanted to drive, it was probably a better idea anyway. But Jimmy shook his head, and reached an arm into the bag on his side.

First, he pulled a small metal circle out, and without asking permission stuck it to the underside of Timmy's left ear. "Just in case," was all he said, as he stuck one to his own skin. Timmy wanted to ask more questions, where they were going for one, but Jimmy stopped him. "We're going to Fairy World." Pain sheared through Timmy's head and he let it fall into his hands with a groan.

Fairy World. A rainbow bridge to the heavens. Broken. Fire. That smell. That God forsaking laugh.

The next thing that came out of Neutron's bag was a small device resembling an old Game Buddy with a pen stuffed in it. Jimmy fiddled with it for a second, and banged his hand against the side. Then he grabbed Timmy's wrist, "I think I should also say sorry in advance for this."

"For what? What are you doing?" Timmy started to ask, before Jimmy pressed the yellow button and the duo was enveloped in light and energy. The sound of wind drowned out Timmy's questions, and they were off.

* * *

Lalita Lahiri was awaken from the first peaceful sleep she had in days, by the sound of a loud ring. She rolled over and reached out for her glasses. Naturally she ended up knocking them on the floor, and decided to just give up on them. She reached for her phone, the likely source of the sound, but found that it was still dead. Fuck, she had forgotten to plug it in again. But that would mean the sound was coming from…

Lalita Lahiri shot out of her bed, springing over her numerous pillows and now-awaken pet, in her rush to get to her laptop. Opening it, she saw the alert that was coming through. BREACHER was printed in fucking flashing letters that were doing nothing to help Lalita Lahiri's headache.

Suddenly the ringing of another phone broke through. Lalita Lahiri reached into her desk drawer and pulled out a pale green rotary phone. The phone wasn't plugged into anything and only ran in an emergency. Lalita Lahiri picked it and said, "Who the fuck is it this time? Starchild again?"

A familiar voice answered back, "Not one of ours, Lalita Lahiri. But not someone new. I sent you the file?"

"Why aren't we sending Susan and Olga? I think it's their turn."

"Higher-ups say it's urgent and you're the only one in that area."

Lalita Lahiri sighed and clicked on the new file. She wished she had grabbed her glasses as she squinted to read the screen. Whoever he is better be important?

The face on the screen was blurry, but still Lalita Lahiri knew she'd never seen it before. She looked down at the information. She could feel her face pale. "I'm heading back to my hometown to examine the other visitor. Susan and Olga are needed on the last stop. If you need help call Father."

"And if he's who we think he's going to be?"

The woman on the other end let out a deep breath, "Look up, Lalita Lahiri. Watch the moon like we all do."

"I'll call you when I get there." Lalita Lahiri hung up the phone, and busied herself with packing. She grabbed only the essentials, her assistant can send her whatever else she needed. Her beloved pet, George, watched her from the bed. She started gathering his things too, when she noticed the moonlight streaming in from the window. She found herself being drawn towards the window, as she looked up at the night sky. After a few minutes, she felt George pulling on her nightshirt. In the back of her mind, she could hear terrible laughter. And with one last glance, she grabbed her suitcase and George and she was off. But as she left, Lalita Lahiri found herself thinking the stars were so pretty.

* * *

 **So I figured out how I'm going to do this. I split the stories. Warning I'm only doing this for Jimmy, the other cartoons that show up aren't getting their own personal stories I don't have the energy to juggle that level of verse. Jimmy does cause he's technically like the deuteragonist, kinda. Either way, a good portion of the story is his, so next week if there isn't an update check out my profile or the JN page for a story called Heralds. That what was I doing. That's all.**


	3. A Story Time Too Many

**I made my deadline with like a minute left. I'll get good at deadlines one day.**

 **Standard Disclaimer.**

* * *

If his headache wasn't going to make him sick, then all this wind was certainly going to do the trick. He could feel it on everything and it wasn't very comfortable, but it was over soon afterwards. But the nausea and the blinding light prevented him from opening his eyes; instead sucking in a deep breath, praying his equilibrium would even out and the ringing in his ears to stop. Soon enough he was able to open his eyes again and looked upon the new world he was in.

Every color he could imagine and even some he couldn't were surrounding him in perfect unison. Houses, and businesses, amongst skyscrapers and castles. Brick roads and sidewalks paved like rainbows. Purple mountains with no ends, and a large golden wand tower in the middle generating a power Timmy had felt but never knew. And the people. The people were short and tall, all dressed in wild outfits, with hair and features he could not describe. All somehow suspended in air, as if levitated, with floating crowns above their heads, and smaller wands in their hands.

He felt like he was drowning. Time was moving too slowly, and everyone was getting closer. They all seemed so familiar, yet Timmy knew none of them. Familiar strangers all around him, drowning him in their energy. The people didn't notice Timmy or Jimmy. Where was Jimmy? Timmy started to turn his head, and finally saw Jimmy staring at him. His friend reached for his wrist and the world came rushing back. Time moved normally, sound returned, and the colors intensified even more. Wrenching his wrist away he slammed his eyes shut, and threw his hands over his ears. Timmy let out a loud moan of pain, and instantly knew it was a mistake.

The strange people had finally noticed the two boys. Timmy's outburst had made some people turn and look, and what they saw must have terrified them for some reason. They started to panic and scatter, screaming "HUMANS" at the top of their lungs. The people shot off in every direction away from them, and the blare of sirens came from nowhere. Timmy froze in shock until he was forced to move by Jimmy shoving him down a side street.

The duo took off running, the street now bleak as if the color was leaking from it and the world seemed to warp. They were running straight, but not going straight. Jimmy had pulled him towards the center of the town, but now they were running towards the edge. They hadn't turned, the world was changing around them. They ran up a hill, and Timmy felt his legs lock in horror. The bridge to the heaven, or from the heavens in this case. Sloping and rainbow, Timmy pushed the thought of it broken and on fire, trying to favor its current hopeful glow. But that wasn't comfortable to think about either. The whole world felt that way. The whole place felt wrong. Timmy forced him to avert his eyes from the flashy bridge to the large sign next to it. Larger than he ever saw, with letters taller than him proclaiming, boisterously in all caps, FAIRY WORLD.

That sign brought a spike in his head so hard that Timmy called out and doubled over in pain. Recovering as quickly as possible, he grabbed Jimmy's arm and they were off again. They took off down the hill again, trying to keep turning corners. This world was trying to lead them somewhere, and Timmy was going to outsmart it. Outsmart a world; Timmy almost wished he could stop and laugh at the mere idea of the situation he seemed to be in.

Turning corners and crossing roads, they ran for what seemed like hours, but it also seemed like only minutes. The sun disappeared and reappeared, stars came and went, and the friends kept running. Eventually, Timmy couldn't take it anymore and collapsed under a bridge, hopefully out of the view of anyone who ran by. Not that they would. Timmy hadn't seen hide nor hare of one of the strange people since the sirens had died down.

Timmy looked over to his friend; Jimmy sat nearby, knees pulled to his chest, fingers loosely locked. His hair flopped unenthusiastically and he had lost his glasses sometime during the running. He hadn't noticed Timmy staring, or he had and didn't bother to acknowledge it, he just sat staring at his fingers. Timmy wanted to be angry at him, but one look at his face and he knew he never could get upset at him. His old friend had the look of a lost child.

"Not what you expected?" Timmy finally asked. Jimmy's head snapped towards Timmy as if he forgot he was even there.

"I figured… I figured," Jimmy sighed, "I don't know what the hell I thought would happen. You were the one who knew this shit. Maybe if I just brought you back to Fairy World it would all come back and we could move on. But your memory isn't back, and we're stuck here being hunted until my teleporter can refigure."

"Why did you even come, Jimmy? It's been years, and it's not like you don't have time to explain." Jimmy looked back at his hands for another minute, before he let out a heavy sigh. He turned to reach into his bag, and after some rummaging around he pulled out a tablet. After clicking around for a bit he held it out. Timmy walked over, and sat down beside him, taking the tablet from him. It was charts and graphics and a whole bunch of shit Timmy had no clue what it meant. Not that he was going to tell Jimmy that, not that he had to since Jimmy began talking.

"Polaris disappeared first. Then Altair, Vega, Deneb. All gone. I was the only one who noticed. Any person I spoke to had no clue what they were to begin with. If I didn't have a photographic memory, I wouldn't even be sure it existed. Even then I was convinced I was going nuts, it took like three brain scans to convince me otherwise. So I decided that I was going to have to figure out what is going on. When I took my rocket out, looking for whatever proof I could find." He took a long sigh and looked off, "I kind of wish I hadn't now."

"What did you find?" Jimmy opened his mouth to say something when there was a soft flapping sound from above their heads. Timmy reached over as quietly as possible and put his hand over the other boy's mouth. They sat in silence for what must have been a half hour; sitting in terror long after the sound of the flapping had disappeared. Finally, Timmy removed his hand and gestured for Jimmy to talk.

"There was a hole, only about an inch in diameter. I would have missed it entirely had light not been slipping from it. I tried to send a microprobe into it, but as soon as it touched the light it completely disintegrated. I admit that it took me a few more probes before I gave up trying, but before a few disintegrated they sent back a few results. I hauled ass back to Earth afterwards but when I tried to input them into my computer it started corrupting it. There was some virus in it that didn't go away until I literally took an axe to my beautiful new computer. And then I lit it on fire for good measure. After that I unfortunately had to go back to the hole."

He had been flipping through data and charts that Timmy couldn't even understand if Jimmy stayed on them long enough for him to process it. He skimmed through it so fast he flipped straight out of his scientific stuff and into other pictures. He saw pictures of Goddard, his parents, and his friends. They all looked happy. Jimmy finally managed to stop scrolling and the picture it landed on a picture of Jimmy, Libby, Cindy, and Carl smiling brightly. He stared at the picture for a long moment, before slamming down on the power button and tossing it lightly to the side. Jimmy took a deep breath and continued his story.

"When I got back to the rip it was dark. There was no light coming though. So when I sent the next probe through it actually made it, and I saw what was on the other side. It was another world. At first I thought it was your world, but I quickly realized it was another one. Honestly, it's name sounded more like a pokemon than a proper noun, but there was a lot of bright colors so I haven't quite ruled pokemon out. But because of that I began to look into the other stars, and they had other worlds behind them. I found four before I stopped. Around the edges there was this energy that felt very familiar, so I took a sample back to my lab. My computer recognized it as the magical energy that came from Cosmo and Wanda. So I packed up all my research, left Goddard with Libby, and now here I am."

"Lost in a magical world with someone who you insist is an amnesiac, even if I have literally no clue what you're talking about. Cause you lost me when you started talking about pokemon." Jimmy shot Timmy a look that would've looked angry if he didn't look so weary. Timmy took a deep breath, "Well I guess there's only one way for us to get our answers."

"I'm almost afraid to ask," Jimmy was dusting off his tablet. Timmy didn't reply, instead he reached over and grabbed Jimmy by the collar. Hauling both of them to their feet, he pulled him out from under the bridge.

"Hey! HEY!" Timmy shouted towards the sky, "The humans are over here. Come and get 'em!" Jimmy quickly clapped a hand over his mouth.

"What the hell?" he said. Jimmy tried to pull him to start running, but even if Timmy was moving it was already too late. Small, floating creatures dressed in teal jumpsuits were about to surround them, "What the fuck do you think you're doing, Turner?"

"Getting answers." The men pulled out a small metal device. A light went off and the world was blissfully quiet.

* * *

For the second time in the same day, Timmy found his world covered in bright light. But instead of the rainbow of colors that Jimmy showed him, the light that surrounded him now was pure light. He couldn't help but worry that he had actually died and his thoughts turned to Pappy and Tessie. That was until the light started to dim and Timmy realized where he was. Or at least realized he had no fucking clue where he was.

Timmy was laying on something, a table he assumed based on how stiff it was. It felt like there was a fuzz covering his nervous system, his body, and mind. He didn't open his eyes at first. Just stared at the spots that appeared as he squeezed his eyes tighter. They looked like stars.

A spike went through his head so sharp Timmy shot straight up, panicking. He took several deep breaths, and tried opening his eyes. He couldn't open his eyes. Why couldn't he open his eyes? The spots were getting brighter. Timmy could feel himself starting to panic, the taste of pennies filling his tongue. In a last ditch attempt Timmy moved to try and open his eyes with his own fingers, but when the tips of his fingers touched his eyelashes another spike sent him on his back.

Then he could feel someone shaking him awake, and the panic receded. The pennies taste left his mouth, and his chest stopped caving in. Those horrible spots left his vision and Timmy felt like he woken up for the first time. Jimmy was standing over him, looking a little worse for wear. His shirt was dirty and slightly torn, and his hair stuck out in random directions. But he smiled when he saw that Timmy had woken up.

He helped Timmy sit up, and Timmy couldn't help but wonder what he must look like. He took a deep breath and attempted to get his bearings, but in the blink of an eye the taste of pennies returned and he felt his vision tunneling. He leaned down and blindly threw up into the bin that Jimmy was holding out. After a moment, he spits into the bin and dared to look back up. Jimmy just looked concerned.

"Happened to me too. Must be a side effect of whatever they gave us," Jimmy helped him off the table, even catching him when Timmy's legs buckled. Timmy took another deep breath and looked around the room. It appeared to be a lab, with sleek white and chrome designs, and a smell of disinfectant. Timmy didn't have much time to focus when there was another small shock to his head mixing with the sick feeling of Deja vu. The result made him lean against the table. Pushing it back, he stood up straighter, and looked at Jimmy.

"Well, we came to find some answers," Timmy said, trying to be brave, "Let's go find someone to give us some." He looked around and saw that whoever had knocked them out had taken their bags, their phones, even Timmy's hat was gone. Looks like they'd have to get those, too. His homework was in that bag, and he really didn't need to miss another Astronomy assignment, but now wasn't the time to think of that. Turning back to Jimmy, "How long have you been up?"

"Not very long. I had this horrible nightmare, and it took a few minutes to get walking down again. Then I just figured I'd wait for you." Jimmy looked around the room, "Let's find an exit." They walked around, Jimmy looking for a door while Timmy checked for security cameras. Timmy found none, but Jimmy pointed out a door. The boys hurried over, but a bolt a terror ran through them when they realized it wasn't real.

"What kind of sadists paint doors onto the wall? That's just twisted," Timmy wondered aloud. The boys travelled across the perimeter of the room, yet they found every potential exit was false. Jimmy was trying to decide if trying the air vents was worth the time it would take to pry the open.

"They'd have to be real," Jimmy said, "We're breathing so the air has to be coming from somewhere." But any chance they had of ever attempting that likely also infeasible task there was a large boom from the other side of the room. Timmy flipped around to see the remnants of a large mushroom cloud where they had woken up. In the middle was a small army of small teal suited humans surrounding another man.

He was the tallest, most muscular man Timmy had ever seen and will probably ever see again. White haired and golden skinned, he stood so tall his head touched the overhead lights, and nearly as wide as the lab table. Timmy couldn't see his eyes, but he knew they were scanning around for them. Suddenly, he was jerked by Jimmy, who had stopped his calculations when he noticed them arrive. Jimmy pulled him in bravely towards the man, obviously trying to follow Timmy's plan to get some answers. Timmy admitted to himself that he was starting to regret ever thinking of it.

"I think you're looking for us," Jimmy said bravely, as the man turned around. The man's face was as harsh and unfriendly as the rest of him, with a three long, pink scars running from his left temple to his right jaw. The look he gave Timmy made him feel as if he were ten years old again.

"Long time, no see, Turner," the man said in an accent that was strangely Eastern European, but not, and just seemed to add to his menacing. He was looking Timmy dead in the eyes, but before Timmy had a chance to look away switched his gaze to Jimmy, "I see you brought a friend. No surprise, you were always a rule breaker." Jimmy stood up tall, taller than Timmy, at least, not nearly as tall as the man though. He seemed to regain as much sense as to feel nervous again, and it was obviously up to Timmy to talk.

"I'm sorry but I can't seem to remember who you are," Timmy said as convincingly and sympathetically as possible. Neither were his strong suit, but he had to try, "It's been a few years, and I've apparently been having trouble with remembering things these days." Jimmy jabbed him with his elbow, and Timmy tried to figure out what to address, "Maybe you could fill in some of the blanks."

The man narrowed his eyes and looked down at Timmy, "You truly don't remember do you, Turner?"

"None, whatsoever," he said quickly and truthfully. Timmy wasn't sure he even wanted to know now. He mostly wanted to go home and go to sleep for three days. He had had enough adventures for the next few weeks. The man looked at them contemplating for a moment.

"Come!" He said bluntly, before turning away, "And someone clean up that muck on the floor!" The boys managed to keep pace with the people until they got to the false door when suddenly the men just up and vanished. Jimmy and Timmy stared at each other, confused. Suddenly, one of the nameless soldiers popped back into the room, muttering about "poofing room to room," but he waved his arm, and suddenly doors. Doors appeared where the painted ones had been as if they had always been there.

"Come along," he said quietly before talking into some receiver, "I'll need a janitor to the godchild wing. I don't know, some kind of human excretion on the floor. I hope it's oral too, Marv." Jimmy and Timmy kept a brisk pace to keep up with the others. While Timmy walked he noticed something about the backs of his captors. A small, delicate pair of wings were attached to them. Yet, after everything that he had seen these did not seem to surprise him anymore. They stopped walking in a long gray hallway in front of a door. Moved inside, they found an office, what could only remind Timmy of the front office of his school. Jimmy and Timmy were shoved off to sit in seats off to the corner, while the largest man went behind another door.

Timmy could hear his heavy footsteps, and then a door slam and some fighting. The boys sat in silence, Timmy considered quietly talking to Jimmy, but knew it would not be a good idea. So he just stared down at his feet. There was more arguing in the background, a man and woman, and a few minutes later, the man came out again. "They're being scanned," he snapped out to one of the soldiers, "No matter what that woman says."

The boys were grabbed by the soldiers, and yanked down the hall away from the arguing. They were halfway down the hall when Timmy began to hear footsteps from the other side the hall. A green blur passed in front of them, bumping the guards, and skidded to a stop in front of the boys. It was a short man who looked to be in his early forties with pale skin and bright green hair. He wore a tie and suit pants, and Timmy could see one of those golden crown atop his head.

"Wait right-wait right," the man bent over at the waist and took several deep breaths, clearly winded, "I'm not use to using my legs. Fairy-God, how do humans do it? I think I dropped my fagiggly gland." Finally, he calmed his breath, and looked back up. His equally bright green eyes zeroed in on Timmy, and his face lit up in a huge grin. The man took a step towards Timmy, "Look at you. You've gone and grown up." He took another step, causing Timmy to take a step back. He felt the hand on his bicep again, and realized the guards hadn't moved. Timmy broke eye contact with the man to look behind him at the other men. Both were frozen in place, mid-step, unblinking and unmoving. Timmy weaseled his arm out of the man's tight grasp, the hand stayed clawed as if still holding something. Nervous, Timmy finally looked at his friend. Jimmy was frozen like the other two. Timmy reached over and touched his friend, shaking him slightly trying to get him to move. When Jimmy didn't, he angrily looked back at the green haired man.

"What did you do to him? Scratch that. I don't actually care what you did to him, just make it stop. Unfreeze him, and let us leave." Timmy didn't care about answers anymore, he wanted off this ride. The man hadn't stopped looking at Timmy with the same dopey expression until Timmy had he said he was going to leave. That's when he snapped out of his stupor, and actually looked at Jimmy.

"Hey, Fudgehead. Didn't expect to see him. I figured you'd have Theresa with you, but seeing as Wanda said it was you and a boy I can see where I was mistaken. I can't unfreeze him. Magic doesn't work in the Apeirogon."

"Then how'd you freeze him?" The green haired man paused for a moment, tapping his chin with his so called wand.

"Good point. Let's see what I can do," he let out a huge blast that hit Jimmy, enveloping him in light for a moment. It quickly dispersed and Jimmy was still frozen. For a moment, until he took in a deep breath and started coughing.

"Knocked out and frozen in one day," he let out a deep groan, "That's gonna smart in the morning." Jimmy looked up and saw the other man, "Oh this can't be good." Jimmy didn't continue speaking aloud. There were a few moments for awkward silence when the green haired man's wand started to lightly buzz. He looked down at it, before returning to the boys.

"We have to get going. Wanda's waiting," he told them. He walked past them and not knowing what else to do, the boys followed him. They tracked back where they came from, past the empty waiting room down the other hallway. At the end there was a single door with a craving of a fishbowl in place of a name card. The green haired man opened the door, to show an office.

It was a simply furnished area, mostly gray, but with splashes of bright colors like someone had tried and failed to personalize it. The last thing he noticed was a woman near the window. Rather short, she was older, and pale skinned. Dressed in black dress pants, and a bright yellow shirt, and the same small wings as all the others. Her most prominent feature was her bright, bright pink hair, neatly skilled in a curl. She was looking away as if she had not noticed them enter.

"Wanda," the man said, and the woman finally turned towards them. Her eyes were the same pink as her hair, and there was a thin scar curling around one corner of her mouth. The woman's eyes misted over slightly. She hurried quickly from her spot to Timmy on the other side of the room. She wrapped him in a hug, as if she was an old friend, and before long Timmy found him return the embrace.

When she finally released him, but didn't fully let go of him though, holding onto his hands while looking up at him. "You've grown into your teeth," she said softly, in a slightly shrill voice. "And you've gotten so tall," she pulled him over to the sofa at one end of the room, "You've gone and grown up without us."

Timmy yanked his arm out of her hold, and the woman appeared to be shocked. The man came up to the woman and whispered something into her ear. The woman paled slightly, and looked to the man, "Are you sure, Cosmo? You've been wrong before." Then she looked at Timmy again, "Do you know who we are, Sport?"

Timmy looked at them, then briefly glanced at Jimmy before looking back to the two adults. "I have no idea who you are." The couple looked sadly at each other, and sat on the couch.

"Sport, we have a lot to talk about," the woman said, "Sit down, both of you. Would you like anything to drink, eat? I know the forget-me-stick can mess a human up." When neither of them said anything she continues herself, "Okay, where do you want to begin? Timmy?"

Finally faced with the chance to answer all the questions that had been building in his mind all day, Timmy couldn't find his voice. He didn't know what question to start with. Should he tell them about what Jimmy had told him, no Jimmy was here to do that himself. Should he tell them about his dream last night, he could barely remember it now. About the strange girl, no, Chloe Carmichael was hardly the strangest thing he had seen today. What about these hallucinations he had been having for hours, could they solve them? Timmy knew he should probably start with the apparent gaps he had in his memory. But that would require finding his voice, and that didn't appear to be coming back soon. Helplessly, he looked over to Jimmy.

Jimmy met his eyes and appeared to come to the same conclusion that Timmy had. He thankfully took the lead from there and asked, "Why can't Timmy remember anything? He said he wouldn't forget anything. And well, look at him. He's got the same look he had when I tried to explain paradoxes to him."

"He lost us, Jimmy. He has no control over whether or not he gets to keep his memories after that. No matter how hard he tries. Timmy grew up too quick."

"What does that even mean? Can't you bring them back, Wanda? I never thought you'd actually let them..."

"You can't be sure Timmy even wants his memories back. Like you said, he's over his head. He can just go home and move on with his life. He's an adult, not a godchild. That's what happens."

"I need him. Something is coming." Jimmy was getting angrier.

"The fairies are willing to help you. I've been over your tablet and-"

"You went through my stuff. That's private-"

"Very private I know, you had some very questionable photos of your friend, that I won't discuss in Cosmo's presence. He's sensitive. But we aren't talking about that. We're talking about the stars. We're willing to help."

"I don't want your help anymore! I want my friend back."

"QUIET!" Timmy was surprised by his own voice, and the others must have been too because their heads all shot in his direction. Timmy took a deep breath and decided at once, "I want my memories back. Can you do it?"

Neither Jimmy nor Wanda answered, instead looking down at their hands as if they were the child in the situation. After a moment, the green haired- Cosmo spoke. "We do have a wiper. I'm sure it could work in reverse."

He stood back up and walked over to one of the desks. After rummaging around for a moment, he returned to seat with a small device. It was so familiar to Timmy, but he had never seen it before.

"Put this to your temple and press the star button. It should restore your memory."

Timmy took the device and looked at it weary, "And if it doesn't return my memory?"

"Not much if you don't care about loss of ears, fingers, eyes, bladder control, and likely memory of anything after your 12th birthday." Timmy pulled the device sharply back from his temple in horror. After a moment, he returned it to his temple with a resigned sigh.

"Here goes everything." And he pushed the button.

* * *

 **Because I am lazy and want to have at least four chapters, I probably won't be posting Jimmy's story for another week or two. Also I deleted Something Wicked, for reasons. That's all. I'll have the next chapter up at like 11:59 pm, next Wednesday. Comment and stuff.**


	4. Once Upon a Few Millennium ago

**I decided to post this the second I got home to make sure that I didn't put it off until 11:59 pm again. Also Chrissy reminded me. Also-also, I changed the title cause why the fuck not.**

 **Standard Disclaimer.**

* * *

When Timmy pressed the button it was not something he could explain. It was no big spectacle, no bright lights, sounds or great revelations. He just closed his eyes, and when he opened them he could remember everything he had lost. He remembered Cosmo and Wanda and Poof, he remembered his adventures in Retroville with Jimmy, he remembered the Darkness, and stopping time and the time he travelled through television, he even remembered his god-sister, Chloe Carmichael. Timmy wondered how he could ever forget. All he had to say was, "Why did you leave?"

"You grew up. You weren't that little boy anymore."

"I was still that little boy when you left," he said sadly, "Why did you leave?"

"You were too old for us, sweetie. You know the rules, when the child is too old for fairies, they must leave."

"I was barely twelve. I still needed you," Timmy fiddled with the bottom buttons on his over shirt, confused.

"But you had lost your parents, it was just you and your sister. You may have been twelve, but you had become too old for us. And we had to leave you, but know we never wanted to and that you were on our minds all the time," Wanda said sincerely.

"I still don't understand," Timmy said. Wanda started to clam up again, removing her hands from Timmy's.

"We'll talk more about that later," Wanda told him seriously, "We have something else to talk about now." Timmy wanted to keep going, he wanted his answers. But Timmy knew Jimmy wanted his answers too, and his were probably a little more important in the long run.

"Fine. What's going on with Jimmy's stars?" Wanda and Cosmo looked at each other for a minute, then one whispered something into the other's ear. Cosmo got up and pulled a book from the shelf, and placed it back on the table.

"Storytime," he said brightly, though his face didn't portray the same confidence. The book was placed in the center of the table in between the groups and dropped his wand on top of it.

"As you've probably figured out there are many parallel universes layered one on top of the other. There are seven different universes that we know of, as well as many pocket dimensions within those. Fairy World itself is a pocket universe in our larger dimension. But that's not really the important part right now. What's important was how it was before." Cosmo moved his hand over the book and a small hologram appeared. It's of a star system that moved in circles, and had more stars and planets than Timmy had ever seen in his own sky.

Wanda continued to speak, "We were only young children when there was only one world, I can barely remember it. But I do remember the monster at the edge of the universe. It started out as something small, this little flickering light just beyond the horizon. And it would get larger and brighter every day and the horizon got closer and closer. Until people started to think that something be done about it. So a group of people took to a ship and sailed beyond the point anyone else had, to the edge of the universe. Most of them didn't return, but those who did were changed. One of them was a girl from the village next to ours. I would visit her and she'd brush my hair and tell me stories. She was a mermaid, and had this long beautiful bright blue hair and the biggest smile anyone ever saw. She went on the trip with her wife, Namaka, who didn't make it." Wanda paused, staring at the picture the book was showing. Timmy assumed it was a picture of Wanda's friend, or at least was supposed to be. She took another deep breath.

"She wasn't okay after. Her hair turned white, she never smiled, and when I would visit Sirena she would just stare out into the horizon like she was waiting for Namaka. Until one day, the group she had gone with came back. I remember Sirena telling me to go home, but I hid behind the rocks, but it so long ago now I barely remember it. I do remember them telling her that they figured out what to do. Sirena didn't want to go back, but something they said made her reconsider. I couldn't hear what it was, but something they told her made her start to pack her shells. She pulled me from behind my rock, patted me on the head, and made one of her turtles bring me home. I never saw her again, but she did leave me with something."

Wanda paused again, snapping Timmy out of the story. The book showed a picture of who Timmy assumed was Sirena, she was every bit as beautiful as Wanda made her seem. Wanda was staring at the picture too, looking at Jimmy he was watching Wanda, as Cosmo sat quietly playing with his hands. They all sat in calm silence for a moment, as the book was shut. Wanda didn't want to finish her story, and no one wanted to see Sirena's picture. Yet Wanda pressed on anyway.

"A few days later the skies turned red, and the world was changed forever. I remember my mother telling me and my sister to grab the one thing we could keep. The one thing that would follow us to our new world. I grabbed Sirena's gift. I knew whatever was happening was Sirena and her friends' doing. I hoped that whatever they did meant Sirena could see Namaka again, and I could see Sirena's smile again. But the last thing I saw in that one universe was the seas parting and something trying to crawl out of the surf. Then there was a flash of light and we were here in Fairy World. Like we had been there all along. I would have believed we had been too had I not held Sirena's gift in the palm of my hand. I never saw Sirena again, and after a while a stopped thinking about her at all. And that's where my story ends for now."

Jimmy, apparently satisfied with her story, asked, "But you think the light beyond the horizon is back now?" Before Wanda could answer there was a sound on the other side of the hallway that stopped them all flat. Jorgen was back. They had to leave. No one moved a muscle for a full minute, waiting for what they knew was coming. It's only when the footsteps went down the other hallway that anyone dared to move. Cosmo slid the book into Timmy's bag, and slowly pushed them forward. Timmy took the lead, grabbing his bag and the collar of Jimmy's shirt, pulling him up with him. He saw Jimmy reach into his bag and pulled out Timmy's old Game Buddy. They could hear the footsteps again, doors opening and closing. They had to leave soon.

Timmy looked back at Cosmo and Wanda, both looking at him as if they were about to cry. "I'm coming back," he told them, "I still have questions."

Cosmo and Wanda didn't say anything for a long moment, before Cosmo lifted his eyes and said, "It'll come to you." Timmy wanted to say more, but there was the sound of the door slamming open. He turned his head to see Jorgen there, red faced, steam all but shooting out of his ears. He felt a hand on his wrist, and he turned towards Jimmy again. The Game Buddy was ready.

He reached out and grabbed Jimmy's arm, "Let's go." He looked one last time at Cosmo and Wanda as bright light surrounded him again.

* * *

 **I felt bad about not updating Something Wicked for like a year, even though I promised it wouldn't be that long. But last night just as I went to sleep I got a notification that the Joker Blogs posted a new video, when that supposedly died three years ago. Suddenly an eleven month hiatus doesn't seems as bad. Comment and stuff.**


	5. All In Your Head

**I've given up on naming the chapters, because it's hard. I'm calling them the first thing that comes to my mind. I might keep changing the actual story's name cause I like to annoy my beta. But look it's another early post. The sun is still up where I am. It's strange. Chrissykins says this is her favorite chapter so far. It's probably mine too.**

 **Standard Disclaimer.**

* * *

The light receded and Timmy and Jimmy were back in Jughead's parking lot. It was now dark out and the lot was empty. Timmy had no clue how long he had been gone, but he knew he had to get home soon. He looked over at his friend, who was sitting back against the wheel of Timmy's car.

"Come on, dude," Timmy said, "You have no clue what's in the parking lot, but you shouldn't be sitting on it." Jimmy got up slowly, still looking forlorn.

"I should be getting back to Retroville," Jimmy said, hands in pockets.

"Few more minutes? The Buddy probably needs to a few minutes to recharge and shit. I have keys to the backdoor. Jughead's got good coffee." Timmy started off for the back door, confident that Jimmy would follow him...eventually.

Jimmy finally turned back up as Timmy was starting up the coffee machine. Neither of them spoke as Timmy made them cups. "Still take it with no milk and a small mountain of sugar," Jimmy looked up at the sound of Timmy's voice.

"Yeah," Jimmy replied plainly, "Remember however much sugar you think is enough, double it." Timmy smiled. They sat down at the counter, and drank their coffee for a few minutes. Timmy opened his bag to look for his phone to check in on Tessie, then just zipped it shut again when he saw it.

"I'll deal with that later," Timmy said, mostly to himself.

"Deal with what?"

"Cosmo slid that book into my bag when we were leaving." Jimmy put his coffee to the side.

"Pass it here," Timmy handed Jimmy his bag, and went back to searching his jacket for his phone. He hoped he hadn't forgotten it in Fairy World. There was the sound of a few pages flipping in the background then Jimmy said, "The book is empty now."

"What do you mean?" Jimmy turned the book towards Timmy to show blank pages where Timmy knew there had been words.

"Guess, you need like magic or something to make the words show up." Jimmy tossed the book back into his bag, "Shouldn't have expected more, right?"

"Whole trip was a waste of a trip?" Timmy asked.

"Nah, I enjoyed our bonding time. We should do it again."

"Maybe next time with could do it without the chase?"

"Wouldn't be a Jimmy Timmy Power Trip if it didn't have a chase."

"Fine then, next week I'm coming to Retroville to give you an existential crisis and probably steal your girl again."

"I'll be waiting with baited breath" Jimmy and Timmy laughed, and fell into a calm silence. Too bad Timmy had to ruin it.

"So what are we going to do?" Time for the awkward conversation.

Jimmy sighed, "I'm going to go back to my own Verse. There has to be something I can do. If they stopped it once hopefully I figure out how to do it again. What about you?"

"I have less parents than I did yesterday, but as it turns out I have another sister. Sorta. Maybe. Hopefully. I'll talk to her tomorrow or something. Still don't know how to explain this to her."

"Chloe always seemed to just know. But isn't that how siblings work? Even if it is only of the pseudo variety." Timmy gave him a look, "No? I wouldn't know, only sibling remember? I made a robot brother once, but I sent him to the moon after like three days."

"Now that's a story."

"What? He wanted to go. I still get messages from him every few months. I only scan through them but still. He was a robot."

"I'm not judging. I'm just going to keep you away from Tessie."

"Aw, and here I was hoping to bring her to the museum." The old friends shared another laugh.

They spent another two hours in Jughead's, talking about their lives and past adventures. But they both knew it was time when they heard the Game Buddy chirp. It was fully charged and it was time for Jimmy to go home. Timmy put their stuff in the sink and walked back out to the parking lot with him.

"This better not be the last time I see you, Neutron." Timmy said, casually.

"You'll see me again. You still have a great deal more knowledge about this end time events than I do. That'll be very useful."

"Oh so you just want me for my facts. Could've at least said I had a great personality or ass or something."

"Your ass is fine, but your personality can use some work. You did almost get us killed like three times this adventure."

"Like I was the only one trying to get us killed by fairies," they laughed. But then the laughing stopped and Timmy looked at his old friend, "Keep me updated."

"Yeah, I'll call over right when I get settled," Jimmy pulled his Game Buddy out of his bag.

"Don't wait another nine years this time."

"Don't over exaggerate. It was like six, maybe seven."

"What do you mean? I know I'm no genius, but I can tell the passage of time," Timmy joked, even though his head was starting to hurt again.

Jimmy stared at him sadly for a long minute before answering, "After that last adventure, we were about eleven or so. Remember the one with the demogorgon, you told me you'd call me next week. But I never heard from you again. I always figured you had gotten yourself in another mess, and would call after everything worked out. But you never did, and after a few weeks of waiting I crossed over again. I went to your house, but it looked like it had been empty for awhile. I even went over to AJ's house, but he hadn't seen since school ended. I called over to Goddard to bring the tracker, but someone grabbed my shoulder. And when I opened my eyes I was home in my lab again, like I had never left. I don't know why I didn't look or call you again. And I'm sorry for that." Timmy could almost see tears in his friend's eyes, "I didn't even think I said goodbye that last time, I don't even remember what I said. I hope it was something good."

Timmy felt himself smile, even though he had tears in his own eyes, "I don't even remember that adventure at all. Memory loss works that way."

"Looks like you still have a few more mysteries to work out."

Timmy didn't want to think about that anymore. He smiled at his friend, "Just don't forget to call." Jimmy reached into his bag and pulled out a walkie talkie.

"If I don't call within thirty-six hours, call me on that. It should be able to break through the Verses."

"See you on the other side," Timmy hugged his friend, and stepped back. In a burst of light and wind, Jimmy Neutron was gone. And Timmy got in his car.

Timmy didn't start the car immediately, instead just staring ahead. He looked down on his hands and saw them shaking. He tried to stop it, grabbing the wheel. His breath got more uneven, as the car seemed to shrink around him. Timmy could feel tears welling in his eyes, as he took a deep breath. He slammed his hands into his wheel several times, angrily.

Finally his breathing started to calm a bit. He opened his eyes, and looked at his dashboard again. Stuck in the corner was the picture of twelve year old Timmy holding little newborn Tess, and when Timmy squinted his eyes he could see the corner of the fish bowl that held Cosmo and Wanda. But it was gone when he stopped squinting. Maybe it was never there. Timmy sighed and turned the car on.

* * *

The entire street was quiet when he turned onto it. Timmy parked his car, and headed for the door. He stopped halfway there, and found himself looking across the street. There was only one light on, in the room he knew was Chloe's years ago. And from his spot on his walkway he thought he could see her up in her room. Timmy started across the street until he was standing in front of the house; he picked up a pebble and began to aim for window pane. But he lowered the rock again, he still didn't know what he was going to say. The light in the window shut off, and the movement stopped. Timmy had missed his moment. He dropped the pebble and crossed the street back to his own house.

Timmy walked back up his sideway and turned his doorknob. The house should've been dark, but there was a glow coming from the family room. He slipped off his sneakers, and walked in as silently as possible. Timmy heard the television going, but there was no one there. Until he walked up to the couch and saw a blanket with a lump under it. He recognized it as the blanket that Tess never brought up to her room when he asked. And peeking out from the top was a pair of dark brown braids.

Tess was curled on up her side on the couch, so engrossed in her show that she hadn't heard Timmy come in. Timmy placed a hand on her shoulder, which earned him a surprised stuffed animal to the face. Tess jumped up, having grabbed coffee mug from somewhere which she now brandished as a weapon. Timmy found himself smiling at the absurdity of the picture.

"Shouldn't you have gone to bed by now?" Timmy looked at the nearby clock. It was nearly 3:30 am. How long had he been in Fairy World?

"Well I was sleeping on couch, Timmy. You woke me up." Tessie sat back down on the couch, and Timmy followed in suit.

"You know what I mean. You should be asleep in your bed. Did Pappy fall asleep on you again?"

"Well he put me to bed around ten, and I was nearly asleep when Charlie reminded me that there was an Audrey Hepburn marathon that I wanted to see. So I just had to come watch it," She looked at her stuffed owl, "Back me up here, Charlie."

Obviously, the stuffed owl said nothing. Tessie started yawning then, coming down from the rush of Timmy coming home. In a minute or two she'll be back to sleep. Wordlessly, Timmy picked up his little sister and carried her up to her room. He placed her on her bed, and took of her glasses.

"Don't forget Charlie," he heard Tessie mutter, "He gets nightmares too."

Timmy kissed her forehead, "I'll go get him right now." He got up and started to walk out, and Tessie was asleep before he made it to the door. He slipped down the hall to his own room, and changed into sleep clothes. From the open window he could see the full moon and the north star blinking in the inky sky. With each blink Timmy found himself afraid the light wouldn't come back. He quickly shut the blinds, and left the room.

The house was quiet then, mostly all the lights were out and the only sound came from the dripping bathroom faucet Timmy hadn't fixed. Yet, something felt off and unfamiliar about this house he had lived in all his life. As he walked down the stairs Timmy could have sworn he heard a creak that hadn't come from the creaky stair. He was nearing the living room to retrieve Tess' stuffed owl when another massive brain spike hit him again. He doubled over for a few moments before it started to clear. That's when he heard it.

The television was still going, playing another movie, but there was something else. There was a shuffle, then another and another. Three people were in the living room. Timmy froze in spot, and listened closely. Maybe Cosmo and Wanda had come back, maybe this time they even had Poof. Timmy started to relax, only to stiffen when he heard them speak.

"Now Timmy, you know the rules. You have to be in bed by ten, and that's already long past. Head off to bed now, Sweetie," That voice brought tears to his eyes, and a sharp bang to his heart. And even after eight years Timmy knew his mother's voice.

"Listen to your mother, Timmy." His father's voice. Timmy leaned against the wall for support, but it wasn't helping much. He could feel himself sinking. The voices became more and more distant. The room never felt bigger, but the walls felt like they were closing in. Timmy couldn't breathe.

"Time to sleep, Timmy," His mother voice started to distort, "Or you won't wake up."

"Bad things happen when you stay up too late, Kiddo." His father was getting more distorted and farther away.

"Time to-wake up, Timmy" Timmy pulled himself off the floor, but the room was still spinning. The living room now seemed like it was miles away. His vision was tunnel and Timmy could keep his balance. He dragged himself over to the living room door, but from the ground he couldn't see anything. Timmy tried to pull himself off the floor. He just had to look at his parents one more time and everything would be okay. But he couldn't get off the ground.

"Bad dreams." His parents said that in unison, distorted but still recognizable. But there was a third voice, deep and unfamiliar, that shook Timmy to his core.

Timmy could feel a hand on his shoulder. He turned his head over to it, and he saw himself looking at him. Ten year old Timmy was staring down at him, trying to pull him to his feet.

"You gotta wake up, Timmy," he said, "I can't hold them back forever." The world turned black for a minute and the older Timmy slipped from the younger Timmy's grip. He fell back to the floor.

Before the world went black again, he could make out Tess' little stuffed owl on the floor. Then there was nothing but darkness, and a terrible laugh.

* * *

 **My allergies are acting up, and cherry blossoms are now the work of the devil. Comment and stuff.**


	6. to lie or not to lie

**I forgot, but I'm guessing you know that by me posting this on Thursday morning. Only took me like six weeks for that to happen. I'm also running low on back chapters to post, and my allergies are making me pass out literally on my laptop nearly every time I try to write. Shout out to Chrissykins for forcing me to write anyway, as a gift I won't change the title this week. That's all, standard disclaimer here.**

* * *

Timmy could feel a hand touching his face, his shoulder, and his biceps. No, hands. A small pair of hands trying to pull him. He tried to move his body, but it remained still and heavy as lead. Timmy tried to open his eyes, but found them heavy as well. The hands stopped pulling, and left him. He was alone, yet in the distance he could hear someone moving around. Slowly, the weight was lifted off him and he slowly opened his eyes. He was laying on the floor, now looking up at the ceiling. He tried to sit up, but found his body rebelling against him. Timmy considered just laying there and waiting for the end, when he heard a noise just beyond his eye line. With slight difficulty, Timmy turned his head towards the sound.

It was a girl with her back to Timmy, but still knew who was in an instant. Timmy would know her anywhere. What was she doing here? She had changed since he had last seen her. She was wearing a short, red dress, and her long hair was tossed up. Timmy could hear her tapping away on her phone, then the distinct sound of a connecting Facetime call. Timmy tried to call out to her, but only managed a small grunt. That was enough though, she was turning around. Trixie let out a small gasp, and tossed her phone towards the couch.

"Timmy, what the hell? Are you okay?" She hurried to him and kneeled at his level. Her eyes were wide in terror, her hands flitting around his body looking for any kind of injury. There was a small bump on his head, presumably from the fall. From a distance, he could hear Tad and Chad calling out to Trixie. She turned towards the sound and called out, "Hang up, everything's fine. I'll call you later."

Trixie helped him sit up and took a seat next to him. He could feel her hand in his hair, and reached for it. They sat there for a few minutes in total silence. He finally looked at her.

"What are you doing here?" Timmy asked, looking her in the eye. Maybe she wasn't, maybe she was a bad dream like his parents, and his childhood. Maybe this whole day had been a bad dream, and he was about to wake up the previous morning like nothing happened. Timmy found himself somewhat hoping that was true. Timmy knew better now.

"Oh, my parents were trying to pimp me out to their potential business partner's son. I got about halfway through the dinner before I downed the wine, stuffed the breadsticks into my bag, and slipped out the window. Again."

Timmy smiled, "I think that's like the fourth time you did that this month."

"My parents haven't learned." Trixie slipped of her heels, and stood up, "But we have bigger issues than my stalling love life. I did find you passed out on the floor remember?"

Timmy stood up, and rubbed his sore back, "How'd you even get in?" They started for the kitchen.

"You never lock your door." Trixie forced him into a kitchen seat, and walked over to the kitchen. She brought him an ice pack, and busied herself. They didn't talk, and Timmy just watched her. I should tell her, Timmy thought. Would the Fairies know if he told someone about them? Timmy wanted to keep her as far away from the fairies as possible.

She probably wouldn't even believe him if he told her. Trixie wasn't exactly close to magic when he had it the first time, and even when she was, she usually forgot by the end of the adventure.

"Trix?" Timmy said. Trixie was making tea now, and eating breadsticks out of her clutch. She walked over and sat down across from him.

"Ready to talk, Peaches?" She passed him a cup.

"What makes you think I'm just going to spill my guts?"

"We tell each other everything."

Timmy laughed hollowly. Yeah, everything. They didn't tell each other anything. Trixie didn't know he knew about the time she hooked up with Remy Buxaplenty, and she probably didn't know about the time he did the same. But this was bigger than a semi-unfortunate hookup.

"So are you going to tell me?"

"I don't even know where to begin…"

"At the beginning, Peaches. Which is around 8 am, since you ignored me all day. Which is something else we should talk about."

"What would you do if you found out you had forgotten a huge part of your life?"

"What did I forget?"

"About things you did, and people you loved."

"I think I'd panic. Memory loss is kind of a big thing. Why? What happened?"

Timmy looked down at his tea, his head was starting to softly pound again. There was this slow creeping on the back of his neck, like something was breathing on it. Someone was watching. "My old friend just came for a bit of a visit. I just seemed to forget a lot of adventures we had. And you know, just realizing how much I've forgotten."

"We could get your head checked out. You actually probably should get your head checked out. You were unconscious for who knows how long." She took a sip of her tea and looked him dead in the eye, "Now what happened?"

"The last time I saw him was right before Tess was born, so suppose I was just suppressing a lot of my memories from around that time. It's reasonable I forgot seeing him."

"We're still getting you checked out. You could have a concussion. How'd you end up on the floor?"

"Slipped. It happens."

Trixie sighed, "When you're ready to tell me I'll be waiting." They drank their tea in silence for awhile. It was uncomfortable, Trixie clearly wasn't happy with Timmy not telling her.

"So, who was your date this time?" Timmy asked, trying to clear the air.

"Dale Dimmadome."

"Son of Doug Dimmadome?"

"Heir of the Dimmadome Dynasty."

"Dimma-damn."

"Don't start, I'm still upset with you. He was fine enough, didn't want to be courting me as much as I didn't want to be courted. Probably picked up the waitress or some girl at the bar."

"I'm sure you'll always be the one who got away."

"You're damn right I am," Trixie said, "I'm staying here tonight. Don't need the parents asking for a play by play just yet."

"Go ahead. I think you still have something in the guest room. I'll clean up."

"Awesome. I'm stealing a shower. My mom got me with the good perfume before I left and it's been choking me." With that, Trixie left the table. Timmy heard her walking down the hall, "Hey. Do you remember where I tossed my phone? Wait...nevermind it's in the family room."

The Living Room. There's something in the Living Room. Timmy sprung out of his seat and hurried down the hall. There was something in the living room, but there wasn't. Trixie was the only thing standing there when he got there.

"Well I'm sorry you've been waiting twenty minutes, but I did tell you to hang up," Trixie called out at her phone.

"You said Timmy was passed out. We were concerned." A voice, Chad, said.

"Well it turns out we were both being drama queens. I'll text you tomorrow," Trixie replied, turning towards Timmy. She sent him a slight glare at having to lie to their friend. Chad tried to reply but she hung up on him. She walked out of living room, straight past Timmy, "I managed to throw my phone nearly under your TV. Not bad for someone only giving a third of a fuck about her lovely new phone, right?"

"Pure luck," Timmy tried to joke to no avail. The duo walked up the stairs in silence, and stopped in front of the guest room, "Still have pajamas here from last time or should I grab you a shirt?"

"Timmy, I think at least a third of my wardrobe is already in that closet. I'll be fine."

"Just trying to be a good host and all that, Trix. I'm going to bed. Maybe we can go running tomorrow."

"If you're up to it, you still have a nasty knot on your head. Gotta have you at top shape." Timmy smiled slightly, and Trixie, thankfully, smiled back. She slipped into the guest room without another word. And Timmy hung out in front of the door until he heard the shower start up. He headed back to his room and shut the door.

Alone in his room, Timmy took a slow breath and sat down at his bed. He dropped his head into his hands. He was beyond tired, but it was unlikely he was getting any sleep. Timmy's eyes slid over to his bookbag. Maybe he should call Jimmy. No, it's too soon, Jimmy would call when he's settled. Still Timmy picked up his bag. Wanda and Cosmo's book sat there like another textbook that just happened to be made of blue leather. Timmy tossed his bag near his desk, almost reactionary.

Suddenly there was a small plink on his window. Then another. And another. Timmy got up and hurried to his window. Standing there in the moonlight was Chloe Carmichael. She locked eyes with him, and Timmy nodded. He turned away from the window and grabbed his converses. Within a minute he was at his front door, he stopped for a moment and listened closely. The water was still running, he could be out and back before she was out. Trixie probably wasn't even coming out of the guest room for the rest of the night. Timmy opened the front door.

Chloe was still standing on his walk way waiting for him. She had changed from when he saw her earlier. She was in jeans and a floral thermal, uggs on her feet, and two braids in her hair. And looking at her Timmy was struck with just how much he missed her. She opened her mouth to say something, but Timmy pulled her into a hug. She stood there, dumbfounded for a moment but quickly returned it.

"What happened?" Chloe asked, pulling away. Timmy looked back at the house, then motioned for Chloe to follow him. They walked around the house and towards Timmy's old treehouse. Though Timmy hadn't been up there in years, the condition of it never seemed to degrade. Now Timmy wondered if it had been magic that kept it together. Nevertheless, Chloe and Timmy climbed up.

It was smaller to say the least. Chloe had an easier time fitting, but she was barely 5'4". Timmy had nearly a foot on her, and was hunched over. They sat down on the far wall, still not speaking.

"My old friend Jimmy came to see me. Said that something magical was happening in his universe and he needed my help. But since I had forgotten, I just assumed he had lost his mind. He forced me to Fairy World, and I guess you know what happened."

"A chase scene?"

"Pretty much. But we ended up in something called the Apeirogon…"

"How did you get out?" Chloe said, cutting him off. She looked at him, extremely concerned.

"Cosmo and Wanda broke us away from Jorgen and his goons."

"Cosmo and Wanda..." Chloe looked sad now. Timmy put a hand on her knee, and gave it a gentle squeeze.

"Yeah. Jimmy and Wanda got to arguing, I got my memories back. Some more arguing, and then a boring story. Then me and Jimmy got back to Earth like a second before Jorgen stormed back in. Now here I am." Timmy knew he should give her the whole story, but maybe tomorrow. He didn't want to think anymore.

"Cosmo and Wanda…" Chloe said again. She was playing with her hands, not looking at him.

"They said they'll come back to Earth if they can…"

"They can't come back down, Timmy. None of them can." Chloe said, urgently. She looked at him with what Timmy could almost describe as terror.

"What do you mean? Why can't they come to Earth?"

"You don't remember," Chloe let out a surprisingly harsh laugh, "Of course they wouldn't let you remember that."

"Remember what? What am I missing?"

Chloe ignored his questions, "How old were you when we lost our godparents?"

"Ten."

"No, we were twelve."

"No, we were ten. I remember. They gave me my memories. Why would-"

Timmy couldn't remember, until he tried a little harder. A thin veil released and Timmy could remember it. He remembered being twelve with them. He had lost Cosmo and Wanda when he was twelve. They lied. Timmy could feel his breath getting shallower. But-

"My parents left when I was ten."

"How could they have left eight years ago, if Tess is only six?" Everything made sense, but Timmy couldn't process any of it. His head was starting to pound again, it fell back into his hands.

"Why does my head hurt so bad?" He could feel Chloe's hand on his shoulder, then rubbing his back lightly. Timmy's head spun and he couldn't breath right.

"Just take a deep breath. I'll stop asking for tonight. We can talk about something else." They sat in silence for a long time, waiting for Timmy to calm down.

"I'm sorry I freaked on you," Timmy said finally. "Probably not how you expected to spend your Friday."

"Hanging out with your tree house. No I thought I lost that privilege years ago. You took me from my annual Harry Potter reread."

Timmy laughed, "You must have read them a hundred times now."

"Nah, I took off a few years to reread a Song of Ice and Fire a few times, now I just alternate. Harry Potter, A Song of Ice and Fire, and Lord of the Rings. Repeat for all time."

"Well that's something we have to talk about."

"Favorite character?"

"Bran."

"Who's favorite character is Bran? He's boring."

"He is my child and you will be kind. Who's yours?"

"Dolorous Edd, of course."

"Fuck, you're right. Can I switch?"

"No you have to live with calling Bran you're favorite character." The two started laughing, and for one moment everything was good. But Timmy had to go accidently mess it up.

"So, what have you been up to?"

Chloe got quiet for a long moment, smile fading. She was playing her hands again. "You know, stuff. I'm in the Book Club, help out at the animal shelter. That stuff. Nothing interesting."

"I'd be interested in knowing. We used to spend all our time together."

"Well you have Trixie, and Tad and Chad now."

"They're no Chloe Carmichael." That made Chloe smile.

"I found a few others who did lose their memories."

This shocked Timmy, he thought the Fairies were good at the mind erasing thing, "Really?"

"Yeah, there's Molly Gatlin-Snow, you know her. She goes to our school. Hangs out with your old friend Chester. Then there's this boy Dwight Tabootie, he lives in Brightsburg. Your old nemesis, Remy Buxaplenty, but he's away at boarding school right now. That's pretty much who's left."

"Well we'll have to get together, even Remy."

"I'll send out a message in the group chat tomorrow,"

"Awesome. There's still things I need to tell you, and I guess them."

"No problem, and about your headaches..."

"They hurt like a bitch."

"I know a witch who should be able to fix that."

"Should I be surprised that you know a witch or that I didn't know they were real?"

"I'll talk to her about something for your memories then you can answer your own question. But I think that's enough magic talk for the night." Timmy laughed.

"Fine. New topic. What's your craziest theory of ice and fire? Cause Tad thinks Arthur Dayne is alive and living beyond the wall as Mance."

"Euron is Benjen is Daario obviously."

"Nice. What about Varys being a merling…" Timmy and Chloe spent the rest of the night talking, both ignoring the crushing issues waiting for them when they left that old tree house.

* * *

 **I think I'll take a break for (insert whatever this story is called) to start posting Jimmy's story, like I said I'm running low on chapters and need to do something about that. I also have a Hey Arnold story in the works, so they stole a day or three from writing. Rain and pollen might be a bigger demon than simple cherry blossoms. Like, Comment, and Subscribe. See you, whenever I post the next chapter.**


	7. Rain and Coffee

**Like** **seven chapters in and I accidentally end up missing deadlines. May is a hell of a month. Finals, works, and allergies. I forgot and on top I'm running out of back chapters. But I do feel kinda back about disappointing my five readers. That's all, standard disclaimer here.**

* * *

Chloe and Timmy left the old treehouse near five o'clock in the morning, after a night of catching up and reminiscing. After that she started yawning and declared that she was going home before she was too tired to make it. Timmy watched her blindly cross the street, and bump into her front door. She turned back to wave, then walked inside. Timmy smiled, and walked into his own house.

It was quiet, everyone was asleep now. The house seemed too quiet, Timmy never liked the quiet. He had to check on his family. Maybe after he saw everyone was okay, he'll finally be able to get some sleep.

He peeked in on Pappy to find him in bed, radio still on and a book on his chest. Timmy slipped in, first picking up the book and putting it to the side. He knew what it was, a photo album filled to the brim of pictures of his father when he was young. Timmy often found his grandfather looking through his old albums around this time of year, they all coped in their own way.

"Aren't I supposed to be the one tucking you into bed?" Pappy asked sleepily He was barely awake, but gaining consciousness quickly. He started to sit up, despite Timmy's motion for him to stop.

"Just checking in," Timmy said, "Go back to sleep, it's nearly five."

"When I was in the navy, we would get up at five everyday." He moved to sit on the bed. Pappy patted the spot next to him. Timmy sat down, but neither of them said anything for a bit. He started, "Timmy-"

"I still don't want to talk about it."

"You never want to talk about it. It's been years, but you never want to talk about it. So, I'll talk." Pappy put his glasses on, "I still remember the last time I spoke to Barnaby and Rebecca. I hadn't heard from any of you since Rebecca had sent pictures of Theresa's christening. But when they called me, I knew something was wrong. Barnaby sounded calm, too relaxed. The way you sound when you're trying not to alarm the other person. He was just making normal conversation, telling me about you and Tess. Talking about all your likes and dislikes, and how they take care of both of you. I remember he said 'Timmy and Tess are very special. They're very important. You gotta take care of them.'. Now my mind isn't like it use to be, but I knew something was wrong instantly. So I asked to talk to Rebecca. Your mother was just the same. Calm and quiet, and clearly trying to be okay. She said similar things. Then she said, 'Just make sure you take care of them,' then she hung up. They didn't answer any calls after that. I got the call that they were missing two days later, I was already at the airport."

"I'm sorry, Pappy."

"I'm not done yet…"

"Maybe tomorrow then. I'm tired. It's been a long day." Timmy got up and began walking towards the door. Pappy sighed, and slowly got up. He walked his grandson to the door.

"I can put myself to bed. Try and get some sleep. I can hear you pacing at night."

"Night, Pappy." Timmy heard the door clear shut behind him, and quickly left it behind. He looked in on Tess, still nested in her stuffed animals, and even on Trixie, or at least her foot seeing as it's the only thing he could find. Then he slipped into his own room.

The room was shrouded in darkness now, the only light would've been coming from the window he covered. Timmy walked over and sat down on his desk. Without really thinking about it, he pulled the string to his blinds. The stars were fine, for tonight at least. He reached for his bag, and pulled out his pack of cigarettes. He pulled one out and stared at it for a long time, then he put it back in and toss the entire pack in the garbage. Instead, he reached for a peppermint, leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. When he finally opened them, he pulled the walkie talkie out of his bag. It hadn't been long enough, but… "Jimmy," Timmy said, "You there?"

There was no answer, just dead air. It's okay, Jimmy will call when he's settled. Timmy put the walkie talkie down, and looked out the window again. The stars were beautiful tonight. I should enjoy them, he thought, they might not be back tomorrow.

* * *

The trip took a week in the end. Lalita had gotten another call from Slayer as she walked into the train station that something was up on her end. No moving until she gave the okay. So it was a waste of beauty sleep, a taxi, a packing, and a nice second degree burn from George. And she had to do it all again a week later. But she was here now.

Lalita Lahiri's train pulled into the station at nearly five am, and she was the only one there. She pulled her suitcase along with her, trying not to jostle the bag holding George too much. She hadn't bothered to make plans on the train, opting instead for more research, but now she was shit out of luck on a place to stay. With nothing else to do, she plopped down on one of the benches. Maybe she could stay here tonight, Slayer said benches were comfier than you'd expect. No, Lalita Lahiri was better than sleeping on a bench. She just needed a short break. She needed to check on Susan and Olga. She pulled out a mint green phone, and clicked on Susan's number.

"What?" Susan wasn't one for formal greetings. Straight to the point.

"I'm here," Lalita Lahiri said, "Are you there yet?"

"I had to rework Olga's schooling for this one, it's going to take a few more days," Susan said, "We won't be there until next week,"

"Bugger school," Lalita replied, "We need you there now."

"Olga cares a lot about her schooling."

"Slayer won't like the delay. Being cute won't get you out of every situation with her."

" I didn't think you thought I was anything special, but here you are saying I'm cute."

"Objectively. I'm still married." Kinda.

"More's the pity. I always wanted to fuck a harpy."

"You're such a joy." Lalita Lahiri rolled her eyes, "Call me when you get there. I don't like delays.

"And that's why you're not the leader, Lalita Lahiri." She hung up before Susan could say anything else. Lalita Lahiri got out of her seat and walked out of the train station. Food, the first thing she needed was food. She stopped at a vending machine, and treated herself to a bag of chips. She was still munching on them when she noticed the taxi. Lalita Lahiri tossed the empty bag in the trash, walked over, and politely knocked on the glass.

"What?" The gruff old man said.

"I was hoping for a lift," Lalita Lahiri said, using most of her charm.

"Do you know what time it is, girl?" Lalita Lahiri hated this man, probably more than she hated any other man she had met in the last three weeks.

"Nearly six, but my train just got in and I was looking for a hotel."

"Get in," Lalita slipped her and her stuff into the sticky cab, "Where are you going?"

"Is there a hotel nearby?"

"There's The RMC."

"Then take me to this RMC."

"The RMC is barely a hotel now. They don't take customers."

"Then why did you tell me about it?" The hate that Lalita Lahiri felt for this man was great, but the hate she felt for him now was some of the greatest she had felt in like a year.

"It's the only decent hotel in town."

"A hotel that isn't a hotel is your best hotel?" What small town America hell was she in?

"You could stay here."

"Take me to The RMC. I can be very persuasive." And Lalita Lahiri was off.

* * *

Trixie and Timmy didn't run the next morning. A storm had rolled in, turning the skies gray as rain poured down. It was a dreary Saturday morning, perfect for cereal and cartoons. Later though, because Tessie had Creampuffs.

Timmy hadn't slept much last night. He spent the night looking up at the stars, thinking about everything that had been going on. He wasn't able to get around his memory issues he'd been having, and trying to was hurting his head. He was out of his room at seven, downstairs and trying to find things to distract his mind. The entire house was clean, all except the living room. Timmy still refused to go anywhere near it, it still gave him this bad feeling.

The bad feeling must have washed over the house because everyone seemed to be walking on eggshells. Pappy woke up first, but didn't say much to Timmy and Timmy didn't say much to him. He left quickly to see his friends, and to "give Timmy space". Tess woke up around eight-thirty, groggy but nightmare-less. She didn't say much just sat in front of the back door and watched the rain fall. Timmy left her to get ready to leave, stopping upstairs to check on Trixie.

"You coming to Creampuffs?" He called into the dim room, he could make out her laying face first on the bed, "Trixie?"

She let out a low, annoyed groan and eventually said something along the lines of, "Piss off, Turner." Timmy laughed softly, and shut the door again. He walked into his own room, and got dressed. Eventually Tess walked in, now wearing a pink dress, mostly ready for Creampuffs. She held up a brush for Timmy to do her hair. By now he was well practiced on how to do a little girl's hair. With Tessie's hair up in her bun, they were off.

Timmy grabbed his bag, his umbrella, and his perky little sister and ran off to the car. They made it with only minimal rain. Tess occupied herself playing with her stuffed animal, and the car ride passed quickly. Timmy parked the car, and the two walked into the ballet studio.

The first thing he saw was the distinct blue hair of Tootie, sitting behind the front desk. She wasn't paying attention, bare feet on her desk and nose in a book. Tootie had been running Dimmsdale's little Creampuff group for the year Tess had been apart of it, which ran out the studio she worked at. Apparently it was owned by a family member, but Timmy never really bothered to ask much.

"Morning, Miss Tootie," Tess called out causing Tootie to jump. In her defense she recovered quickly. She got up, and walked over. She was also wearing a pink dress, stand outfit for Creampuff, making her hair stand out.

"Morning, Turners," she said with a smile, "You're here early."

"Didn't want the rain to slow us."

"Rain?" Tootie said before looking towards Tess, "Why don't you go get ready, sweetie? The other girls should be here soon." Tess ran off, leaving them alone. It was awkward.

"How's everything?"

"Good," she replied, "How's your head?"

"Clearing up. Just seemed to be a bad migraine."

"That's good."

"Yeah." They stood in silence for a moment, "Do you need help setting up?"

"No, it's okay. Vicky will be here soon with the twins, they can help. Otherwise, you just left your little sister here for me to use for manual labor."

"You joke, but you haven't seen her organize."

"I'll remember that next time I need someone to clean the costume closet."

"You may find some of the stuff missing. Tess loves her theatrics and minor theft." That made Tootie laugh. She calmed after a moment and Timmy said, "If you don't need me I'm going to run to the coffee shop until the meeting is done. Should I bring you anything back?"

"Something with mocha."

"Sure thing. See you later."

"Have fun." Timmy dunked out of the studio and ran to the coffee shop a few doors down. That annoying little bell above the door rang out, announcing his presence. It was surprisingly empty for this kind of day. There was only an old couple at one table and a boy sitting nose deep in a laptop. They all ignored Timmy and he was happier for it. He ordered his drink, and took his own seat as far from the others as he could. He reached into his bag for his laptop and occupied himself for a while. Then a slow creeping feeling came to him, like someone was watching him. Yet, when he looked up there no one knew around.

His phone vibrated softly in his pocket, and pulling it out he saw that Chloe had texted him. Off in the slightly away distance, he could hear the bell above the door ding indicting another person coming in.

CHLOE: Group-chatted to our friends.

TIMMY: How'd that go?

CHLOE: Remy will be back in Dimmsdale next-ish week. He wanted us to wait.

TIMMY: Always has to be involved.

CHLOE: We can all go to the festival together.

TIMMY: I'll be with Trixie and the others.

CHLOE: Get out of it.

TIMMY: We'll talk later. I'm on a break.

Timmy put his phone back into his bag and looked up to see that someone else had come in. It was Timmy's dear old friend AJ, but he hadn't noticed Timmy yet. For a long moment, he considered ducking out of the coffee shop before he could. But he couldn't think of a reason, and maybe AJ seeing him wouldn't be too bad. AJ was his friend, sure they hadn't talked since middle school, but he used to be one of his best friends.

AJ had his coffee now, and was starting to turn around. Timmy diverted his gaze, because him staring out be a little too obvious. After a second he looks back up and pretends to see AJ for the first time. Him and AJ lock eyes for a moment, and Timmy beckoned him to sit with him. AJ sat down, but neither of them said anything for a few.

"So, how's everything?' Timmy eventually said.

"Good. You know. Studying, working. Usual stuff. You?"

"Usual stuff...so what are you drinking?"

"Pumpkin Spice."

"Super basic. I got the same." Timmy's joke fell flat and there was no more talking for a few minutes.

"I found an old issue of the Crimson Chin a few days ago, and I remembered that time we spent eighteen hours camped out for the movie and it sucked." Timmy smiled at AJ's memory, he remembered that day well.

"I was so disappointed," Timmy laughed, "I thought I would never get over seeing the Chin as a human. It was something."

AJ and Timmy shared a laugh and the conversation got a little easier after that. They compared stories for a long time, but eventually AJ had to leave. They'd talk again sometime soon.

"I've got to help my friend with her project next week, but maybe we could catch up at the festival next week."

"I'll keep you updated." AJ left after that, and looking at his phone, Timmy had to be out soon too. He looked at the other people who were still here. The older couple, the girl doing her homework, and the boy on his laptop. Nothing was different but the bad feeling was back. He slowly walked back to the counter, and ordered a Mocha Latte for Tootie and a Hot Chocolate for Tessie.

Then he saw it in the mirror.

Saw him in the mirror.

Jimmy.

Jimmy and a monster.

But when he turned around, he was gone.

Timmy grabbed his orders and left the shop as soon as possible. Maybe the rain would calm him down.

* * *

 **I'll probably post Jimmy's story next. Like, Comment, and Subscribe. I'd really enjoy it. See you, whenever I post the next chapter.**


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